Anonymous: Heroes Need Heroes
by rebornwhole
Summary: Riley thought she was good at few things she thought that she simply had dumb luck. She thought it unlikely that she would get a summer internship, since that she sent her form in at the last minute. Riley thought that she got lucky, that is was simply a one time of luck. Then her luck spiraled out of control, she needed saving, even if she wouldn't admit it.
1. Chapter 1

Young Justice & Spiderman-_Anonymous: Heroes Need Heroes_

WARNING: CONTAINS SUBSTANCE ABUSE, CHARACTER DEATH, AND ABUSE (BOTH (I just had the strangest urge to put an "e" on both…talk about weird) PHYSICAL AND SEXUAL)

DISCLAIMER: I OWN NEITHER THE RECOGNIZABLE CHARACTERS FROM YOUNG JUSTICE, NOR THE MARVEL UNIVERSE. ALL STORY LINES ARE FICTITIOUS AND ANY SIMILARITIES TO A PERSON, DEAD OR DECEASED, IS COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY COINCADENTAL. I OWN THIS PLOT AND RILEY.

ENJOY!

CHAPTER 1:

Stuffing her hands in her pockets, she ran down the road until she reached her destination. Her internship was starting today; it was with an assistant named Peter Parker. Pulling her sketchbook out, she roughly sketched a picture of the tall buildings, and then sprinted inside. Grabbed her ID and started up the escalator. She was already late, and on her first day. She almost tripped several people as she skidded into the office. Pencil behind her ear, ID clipped to her old black jacket and windswept short hair that fell into her lens-covered eyes, she looked very much like a boy, and it detracted attention from her.

"I'm sorry I'm late, it took me a while to find the building, I know, it's the biggest building around, but I'm new to this city, you see, I just moved from Gotham and I've been trying to find my way around for about a week or so, but I'm hopelessly terrible at it. Hi, I'm Aurelia Jacobs, but you can call me Riley." The girl, who could be no older then fourteen held out her hand to the dumbfounded Peter, who took it and shook it, motioning of her to sit after he let go. Setting her bag down, she faced the scientist.

"Well, I'm Peter Parker, assistant, and your, apparently, boss. I did not know why they would get an assistant for the assistant. You can call me Peter."

Riley shrugged, and smiled crookedly at the older teen, brushing her hair from her face "Alright, I need you to file these papers, you can just leave your stuff by the door, so you can get out as fast as you came in." He handed her the papers and winked at her. Riley mock-saluted him and knelt by the file cabinets. She learned a bit about the older teen over the hours in which she ran errands. This continued for most of the summer, she enjoyed his company, and Riley considered him a friend, but was unsure if the feeling was returned. She told him about her love for superheroes, whether they have powers or not. He told her about Spiderman, and his endeavors throughout New York City soon enough, another hero was added to the sketched in her book and the symbols on her corkboard at home. Riley was a tinkerer, which Peter learned, and she did odd jobs with computers, to earn herself some extra money. Her family was financially challenged, and Riley, being an only child had to take care of her family.

One day, Riley was running an errand and she saw a room that caught her eye. Pushing the door open, Riley stepped inside. Behind a glass door were webs. Pushing open the glass, she saw that spiders crawled across the webs. Setting down the file outside, she walked into the chamber, fascinated by the creatures that crawled across the webs, she let one crawl onto her hand. Without warning, it latched its small fangs on the inside of her wrist. Crying out, Riley quickly pulled the spider off, yanked her jacket sleeve over the bite, and left the room quickly enough so that no one knew she was there. Quickly dropping the file off, she checked her watch, she could leave. Running into Peter's office, she grabbed her bag and board, quickly leaving the building, waving good-bye to the receptionist as she rolled past.

Riley reached her mom's small apartment, expertly dodging her mother, who was passed out cold, sleeping off her hangover. Once in her room, she inspected the bite, it was red and inflamed, sighing she just showered and went to bed, not expecting anything to happen because of a spider bite.

Morning came for the residents of New York, and one in particular was groaning from the bruises he acquired the night before. Another groan came when he looked down and saw his costume. It had rips covering the chest and back. Pulling it over his head, he pulled on his spare and stuffed the ripped suit into his bag and ran downstairs, always acting as if nothing was wrong. As he wolfed down his breakfast, and gave his aunt a kiss before jogging out the door to another day at his summer job. He walked in, and popped his back, waving to a silent Riley, who was inspecting a red mark on her wrist. When she caught a glimpse of the other teen and immediately dragged him to a bathroom. Carrying her bag, she ordered him to take off his shirt. She did not ask any questions, she just cleaned his cuts, making sure they were properly bandaged. Her eyes had a certain protective light to them as she tossed him an old sweatshirt from her bag. She never said a word to the other boy as she pushed him out of the room and sat him down at the desk, whispering "Don't do too much, you cuts might reopen, and I don't want blood on my sweatshirt." Silently, she pulled out her sketchbook and quickly drew something and put it away, then watched Peter, who silently went about his work. He nearly fell asleep on the keyboard. Rolling her eyes, she rolled the chair away from the desk when he finally fell asleep and continued his work for him, filling out form after form until the older teen woke up to see almost all of his work done and a brunette rubbing her eyes fiercely, trying to finish the work. Hands on her face and pencil in hand, she feverishly scribbled on the pages before her, leaving every signature line blank for him. Placing a hand on her shoulder, he gently shook the girl from her stupor and checked the time. It was about an hour past the time when they were meant to leave and the office lights were slowly going out. Riley groaned when she saw the time, saying "My mom is going to kill me, raise me from the dead, and then kill me again. And do this repeatedly." Waving to Peter she sprinted from the room at a nearly inhuman speed.

Riley ran home, dodging people as they yelled after her. A few teens smirked knowingly after her as her backpack bounced on her back and her feet slapped the ground quickly. She came in to an irate mother. Her eyes widened and she dropped her bag by the door and slowly moved away until she was up against the wall, hands splayed against the cool plaster. A glass bottle came hurling at her, quickly she dodged it and assumed her old position, the glass shards rained down and cut her hands. Riley didn't flinch as she took blow after blow from her mother. Soon, her mother had passed out on the floor, and Riley rose from the ball she was in, and started to scrub the stains from the linoleum. She didn't know that someone was watching her as she cleaned the floor before even looking at her wounds. It was obvious that Riley had put up with this for longer than it can be imagined. This is where her obsession with heroes came from. Her fierce protection of the weak is what made her only stronger against her mother. She knew there were those who always meant well. No matter what. That night, Riley noticed something. Everything seemed sharper, clearer. She was thinner, and had firmer muscles, but somehow ravenously hungry. Silently, to avoid waking her mother, she warmed up a pizza from the freezer and ate the whole thing. She inspected the spider bite, the swelling had gone down and it was completely unnoticed to Riley unless she was actually looking for it. After sliding into bed, she closed her eyes and dreamed of a better world.

School started in a week. Her internship was only for the summer and ended today. Going up to the office, she double checked her concealer in the window before walking up the stairs, nodding to the receptionist, who gave her a slight smile. Pushing open the door of the office, she dropped her bag by the door and slumped into the chair, waiting silently for Peter, who without warning, jumped from behind the desk with a yell and threw a pencil at her. Yelping, Riley flipped the chair over and was up the wall and hanging down in about five seconds. Quickly, she opened her eyes and immediately dropped down, picking up the chair and sitting in it. She gave the other teen a well-practiced stink-eye. Peter began to laugh as Riley continued to glare in a Batman-worthy fashion. She herself was surprised by her own reaction. She hid it well, so that her face only showed a bit of anger at Peter's reaction. Wrapping her arms around her bruised ribs, she waited patiently until she was given something to file. Peter just waved his hand and told her to go play with her toys. Giving the other boy a deadpan expression, she left the room for her small tinkering station in the main labs, picking up her screwdriver, and began adjusting the valves of one of her many projects. She consulted her blueprints and worked until it worked. The hoverboard she had been working on for months was finished. Stepping away from the desk, she picked up a joystick and pressed the top button. I lifted off smoothly, increasing the altitude, she flew it above her head in the near empty room, a grin splitting her face. Moving it back down, she caught it easily with a hand and strapped it onto her backpack, checking her watch, she ran back to the office, and gave Peter a hug whispering

"Thanks, you idiot, don't hurt yourself too badly. _Spiderman_." He sent Riley a sly look and the girl returned it, brushing her unkempt hair from her eyes as she shouldered her pack and left Oscorp for what she hoped would be the last time.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2:

She never expected Peter Parker to be at her school. She was walking the halls and trying to avoid the bleach-blonde girls who thought they were the best things to happen to this school, and that nerdy girls should be eradicated. Riley was sitting through a lecture, taking hurried notes, her scrawl quickly making marks on the paper. The doors opened and everyone's heads snapped up as the teacher continued to drone. Riley was the only one who didn't look up as someone sat down beside her and poked her. She immediately jabbed her elbow at them. Looking up, she saw Peter Parker. A grin split her face as she hugged him and returned to her note taking, letting Peter copy most of them. All of her tormenters were going to have a field day with this. They watched Peter with lustful eyes as they slid even more lipstick over their overly red lips.

She left the lecture hall, gathering her papers close to her chest as she smiled up at Peter, her fourteen year old stature dwarfed by Peter's eighteen year old.

"So, what exactly are you doing here? You should be at school."

"I am at school."

"Good point, I guess the better question would be why I am here."

"Yup."

"Well, I was supposed to go to eighth grade, but I skipped to ninth, got a scholarship, and now I'm here. I don't know whether to be proud or miffed by this school's uniforms. What kind of high school has uniforms?"

"The awesome ones."

"The only thing it permits is short skirts and girls can't even wear the boy's pants. Apparently it is discrimination, because dudes can't wear skirts. Why would dudes want to wear skirts anyway, that is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. I am rambling. Sorry."

Peter burst into laughter and slung an arm over Riley's shoulder, "You, my dear assistant, are the singular most insane person I know, now I have to be off, see you later!"

Riley walked to her dorm to see her dorm mate passed out on the couch, bottles of liquor littering the floor. Sighing, she cleaned up her prostate roommate and lined up all the liquor bottles with practiced ease, then walking to the kitchen she pulled out a Gatorade and a bottle of Tylenol, placing both on her bedside table. She did this before placing the liquor in the cabinets under the sink, were the rest of it was, then picked up the older girl with her enhanced strength, and laid her on the bed. The other girl always assumed it was her boyfriend. Riley thanked the higher power that she was never found out for her own nocturnal activities. Night was falling and Riley pulled out a dark blue and black outfit and pulled it on, tracing the royal blue spider that was carefully sewed onto the back. Pulling on her combat boots, she strapped on her black utility belt and jumped from the window onto the roof, landing gracefully and nearly soundlessly as she started to run away from the school, leaping from building to building, executing twists in the air and practicing until she slipped and fell. She stopped by her mother's apartment, sighing as she heard shouts and glass breaking, then silent whimpers. Pulling her cowl from her head, she slipped into the apartment through the unlocked window and began to clean up the glass and putrid mess around her younger brother. Quickly, she picked up her younger brother, ruffling his dark hair and gently woke him up and rubbed cream over his scratches and showed him how to cover up his face. He as so young, mother adopted him for community service, to make herself look better if she was ever found out.

Slowly, she laid her brother down in her old room and slipped out the window, smiling at her younger brother. Pulling her cowl back down over her head, she ran into Spiderman. Waving, she picked up her bag and placed it back in its hiding place, then began to patrol the city. Spiderman and herself left each other alone. Peter did not approve of what she did, just as Riley did not approve of what he did. So soon, Anonymous became the newest "public menace". She never named herself, but she always signed her notes to the police with an "A", and they just decided to call her Anonymous, due to her practical lack of existence, excepting the times that Peter set up cameras to catch pictures of her. The ones taken clearly told the public she was female and had similar powers to Spiderman. She was returning to the junkyard to practice when she saw Spiderman and more heroes. Behind the mask, her eyes widened. Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, her heroes were all there. Quietly, she scurried up the wall and watched from above, sketching out the odd scene until she head Spiderman call out "Anonymous, I know you're there, come on down, and try not to fangirl."

Anonymous scowled and dropped from her rafter right beside Spiderman, shouldering her pack.

"I was just leaving." She said calmly. Turning around she walked from the old junkyard "But, I have the yard tomorrow, since you decided to take my day." She turned back around and told the older teen, giving him a glare. Nodding to the Justice League, she turned around and began jogging back to the school, where she slipped into her dorm room. Pulling her Anonymous costume off, she inspected the bruises. The full body suit hid most of the bruises, but her school uniform did not. The sun was going to rise in about an hour. Shutting and locking her door, she laid down, only in her sports bra and shorts and slept until her alarm echoed through the small room. Jumping up, she went through her normal ministrations. She pulled her dark tights on, then her shoes (which where old and beat up) and skirt. Pulling the shirt on, she grabbed her school pack and walked out to her first lecture. Setting up her recording device, she slept through the lecture and woke up when her name was called. A blue-eyed boy was shaking her. Bolting up she looked around the empty classroom.

"Not again." She muttered as she packed up all of her things and turned off the recording, quickly leaving, waving slightly to the boy around Peter's age.

No more trouble happened that day as she wrote her reports. Her hands zipped across the keys as she quickly worked on the reports. She knew this material. She had read it. Riley rarely forgets half of the things that she reads. She finished before the clock struck eleven. After cleaning up her roommate she became Anonymous. She jogged through the streets, stopped a few muggings, breaking and entering. She was out until one. Walking to the junkyard she sat down on the ground, pulling off her cowl, she rubbed her tired eyes, then pulled it back on, keeping her head down the whole time. Pulling out her utility belt, she checked her inventory. She was nearly out of almost everything.

"Stupid Spiderman, couldn't find a better place to talk to the Justice League. Hopefully he's finally joining, it would have taken him long enough." Muttering she restocked and started to work. She pulled off the top half of her suit and put a domino mask on from her belt. Slowly she went into a handstand. Tumbling from it into a roll, she immediately leapt into a fighting stance, fighting off imaginary enemies quickly and efficiently, going through all the motions as her mind wandered to the one thing she forgot. Her venom. Stopping immediately, she walked to her pack and pulled out a cell phone "Peter, yeah, I forgot…I didn't do it on purpose…alright, but come back right after…hey, I'm not the one on a date…don't mock me, I have accepted the fact that I will be forever alone…alright…okay…yes, I know the consequences…sure…I'll stay put…bye." Putting her phone back into her pack she returned to her monotonous routine. Concentrating only on what was in front of her.

She felt a tap on her shoulder. Spinning around, she lashed out with her foot, hitting the other person solidly in the gut. Spiderman doubled over wheezing slightly, he was clearly unprepared. Anonymous quickly helped her elder, then sat down on the ground herself, leaning her head on his shoulder.

"Why aren't things simpler, why can't we get along when in masks and tights? I love like a brother, but I can't whenever I see you in a mask. Makes me angry."

"I don't know, but you put your top back on, so if it drips, you won't a have a scar. She pulled her cowl back over her head, and zipped up the front of the suit, leaning her head back onto Peter's lap, she closed her eyes as Peter took out the venom that was stored right above her canine teeth. He finished quickly and put it all in a vial. It was dangerous if directly exposed to them or anyone else. After taking the vial and putting it in her belt, she rubbed her hands together.

"Alright, friendly neighborhood Spiderman, do me a favor, one match. Please."

Peter popped his joints as he stood, and faced the younger girl who he had met months ago, who was timid in her actions and hid behind concealer. Then he turned to watch his younger sister smile devilishly at him as they circled. He did not want a sidekick, and told her so. She was hurt at first, but quickly got over it as she went through the city, helping the crime rate drop. She was inspired by him and all of the other heroes she had never met (which were many). She did not want to be ordered around, especially in the presence of her heroes. They watched each other, and the ever-impulsive Anonymous threw the first punch and feint. It went on in this manner until her elder slammed Anonymous onto the ground, she stood up and shook hands with Peter, then grabbed her pack and jogged back to her dorm thinking about all the times that she had been slammed on the ground before. She hated it, but it was all a learning process. She used too many feints until she became predictable. She stopped an assault with practiced ease, but this time, taking a knife to her knee. Jumping on a wall, she used the rooftops, using her web shooters to launch herself from building to building. She finally rolled through her window to patch herself up. Limping to the bathroom, she pulled out her first aid kit, she pulled the knife out of her knee, and quickly Riley used her web to staunch the blood flow. It quickly turned red. Pulling out a bandage, she pulled the web off and looked at the wound. It nicked an artery. Cursing, she just concentrated on cleaning the wound. Pulling the vial of venom from her belt, she uncorked it and poured some into the wound. Slowly, the flesh knit back together. Riley stood up and looked at the scar. Taking out a syringe, she removed the venom from her mouth and refilled the vial before slumping into bed, cowl on. In the morning she woke up to see her roommate staring at her in astonishment.

"What is Anonymous doing in Aurelia's room?"

"She let me crash here, I'll be off." She got out of her own bed and left through the window, then quickly slipped back into the room, changed, and left the room as if nothing had happened. Her roommate was half-drunk anyway, she'll just think it was some kind of twisted dream or hallucination from the alcohol. Riley walked to class calmly, hiding the winces that every step brought from her healing knee. In her lectures she sat beside the boy who had woke her up in her first lecture. They had an odd relationship, he woke her up and she him. He had introduced himself as Dick Grayson, he was nineteen as well, and taking a few classes. He was from Gotham and Riley was happy to finally see someone from one of the many cities she had stayed in. He seemed to know about almost all of the heroes, but he hadn't heard of Spiderman, well he had, but not much. Riley immediately took it upon herself to educate him, but she conveniently left out Anonymous until she was asked of the female hero. She told him about herself and how she grew up, conveniently leaving out the part where her mom made a habit of hitting her. The final bell echoed through the school, and a surge of students moved quickly, eager to escape the throng, she waved to Peter as she passed and he winked. Pushing her hair back from her face, she jogged back to her dorm and quickly wrote her reports. Her roommate stumbled in and passed out on the floor. Quickly she cleaned the older girl up then she noticed someone was watching her. She opened the window and a man in black leather stepped in. A blue winged insignia crossed his chest. She nodded and said "Nightwing."

She had already changed into her suit with her cowl.

"A friend?" Asked the dark haired teen, gesturing towards the girl that lay beside a spilt bottle of booze. Anonymous nodded and picked up the older girl and laid her on the couch, throwing a blanket over her. Picking up her pack, she stepped out of the window and said "I have business,"

The older boy nodded as if it was to be expected. Riley nodded back and said "Don't wait up." A small smile crossed the face of the older boy as Riley disappeared, the only sound was the squelch from her web shooters as she stopped by her mom's apartment.

She had told her brother to pack and he waited by his window, duffel in hand, gripping the handle tightly. He pulled his bruised body onto the windowsill and waited for his sister who came and scooped him up, giving him a tight enough hug that wouldn't hurt his bruises greatly. She took him to the junkyard and pulled her cowl off, revealing her domino mask, smiling at her brother, she held his hand tight as she treated his cuts and gave him her jacket. The undernourished boy shivered even with the jacket. Pulling off a glove, she felt her brother's head and felt the heat emanating from it. Biting back a curse, she rummaged through his bag and her own for medicine. She couldn't give him any venom, it would kill him. She quickly pulled on jeans and a hoodie, then she pulled off her mask, and stuffed the mask in her bag and picked up her little brother. His fever felt ridiculously high. She could feel the heat through her clothes as she walked to the hospital. He brother fell asleep on her shoulder as she walked into the hospital, and waited until their name was called. She soothed her brother as they walked into the sterile room that made Riley feel sick. They asked were her parents were.

"Our mom is off on a business trip, and I'm taking care of my brother, I was coming to pick him up from the house when I saw he had a fever, and I checked him and he felt ridiculously hot, so I took him here." The doctor nodded, "I need you to sign off documents, as he needs to stay with us for a while." The girl nodded and signed the documents, as her brother was taken to a hospital room. When she walked in, she wiped away the tears. Her brother looked small and frail against the white sheets. Pulling out her phone, she called Peter. He didn't pick up. Sighing, she called the number that Dick had given her. An older man with a British accent picked up

"Wayne residence."

"Uum, hello, this is Riley Jacobs, is Dick Grayson there?"

"No, he is not, may I take a message?"

"Just tell him that I called. Uum thanks, have a good night."

"You too, Miss Jacobs."

She hung up the phone and held her brother's clammy hand. Riley called in the school when the clock struck eight, asking to have her work sent to her, for personal reasons. She was sending in the day's work when her phone went off. Peter's smiling face lit up the phone.

"Hey."

"Hey, you called?"

"Yeah. Jay's in the hospital."

"What? Why?"

"High fever, like way too high, and malnourishment. My mom is back at it."

"I'm coming as soon as possible."

"No. You have school, and you are not skipping. I'll be fine. Run off and play Pete. Pick up your phone next time too."

"Alright, Riles, see ya on the flip side." She laughed and hung up the phone. Quickly, she made sure all of her work was sent in before slipping into sleep beside her recumbent brother.

She pulled herself out of sleep when she heard her brother talking in his sleep. She immediately tightened her grip on his hand. It was Saturday. She had stayed with him all through Friday. The door opened to reveal Peter. She bit her lip hard to keep herself from crying when he came. She knew she couldn't cry in front of the nurses and doctors. She couldn't cry in front of him. She waved with her free hand and looked back at her brother saying "Thanks Peter."

"No prob." He hugged her with one arm and sat down in the other chair, pulling it beside her chair, and just sat beside her, looking everywhere except the pale prostate on the white sheets. Riley's phone went off.

"Hello?"

"Riley, this is Dick."

"Hey."

"You sound dead."

"Jay's sick. Hospital sick. Peter's here, you're free to join us, if you want to. I doubt you do. We are an hour away."

"I'll see what I can do."

"Thanks. Bye."

"Bye." Dick-said before the line was cut off. He was in either Bludhaven or its sister city, Gotham, he probably wouldn't come anyway. She stayed with Jay all day. Dick called, said he had business. She told him she understood. Soon Peter had to leave. She begged the nurses to let her stay. They sent her home. The school year had ended and she had all of her belongings with her. She walked into the junkyard and into her little hideout, which she had made into a bunker, a house, for herself and her brother. She tried to sleep, but couldn't. She couldn't close my eyes without seeing the heart monitor flat line. Riley couldn't see him die. So she stayed up, fixing things and tightening them. She worked on a back-up suit. She worked until her alarm went off at six. She pressed the off button and started her workout. She walked out of the bunker and began to train herself. She went up into a handstand easily and held it for the longest time. She overbalanced herself and dropped into a roll, then lashed out with a low kick. She smiled and tried again and again. The monotony soothing frazzled nerves. She showered and they all came back as she pulled on a black turtleneck and dark jeans. Riley grabbed her brown jacket and pack before jogging from the bunker back to the hospital. She saw a familiar dark head in his room I stepped in and saw that Jay had his eyes open. He was talking.


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3:

"Thank God." She muttered as she immediately dropped her pack and dragged the small boy into a tight hug, he grumbled and hugged back. Riley grinned and sat down, taking her brother's hand again, she graced the two older boys in the room with a small smile as she listened to her brother. Soon he fell asleep again, and Riley soon joined him, a small smile on her face. The two older boys just smiled and talked amongst themselves, keeping quiet as Riley stirred at the sound of their voices. Soon the smile disappeared. She whimpered slightly and Peter as immediately at her side, and whispered in her ear "Riley, wake up, before it gets worse." Riley flinched away from the sound of his voice and she whimpered again, curling into herself. Peter shook her gently until she woke up. Her eyes shot open and she immediately sat up, tense and almost ready to run. Riley relaxed and rubbed her face before stretching slightly, her shirt lifting up to reveal a dark bruise where "someone" *cough*hermother*cough* had nailed her. Riley and Peter had a silent conversation, before Peter nodded and Riley rolled her eyes and began to talk to Dick, who just continued to play on his phone as if nothing odd had happened. He had looked her up, after finding out she was Anonymous, and he knew her history. Riley talked while gripping her brother's hand. They talked while her brother slept. Suddenly, the beeping sped up, then flat lined. Immediately, Peter pulled Riley back, as she fought valiantly against the arms that held her as a group of people rushed into the room, defibrillators following. Riley watched in horror, still struggling against Peter's strong arms with no avail. She didn't stop struggling. Tears continued to fall down her face.

"Clear." The sound of electric current echoed through the room. Nothing else.

"Clear." They tried over again, but nothing started up his heart again.

"Date of Death, June 10, 2017." Immediately, Riley froze, the words making her freeze up. She called her mother, who was thankfully sober and had her sign everything. Her eyes where empty, as if a light was shut off. He was buried two days later, in a quiet service, paid for by Bruce Wayne. The girl thanked the older man, shaking his hand, a small, empty smile on her face. She placed a flower on the fresh grave and walked away, wiping the tears from her eyes. She reached the bunker and saw Spiderman in it. He looked at her questioningly. "I was going to get him away. He couldn't stay any longer. I wouldn't let him. I'm gonna stay here for a while. Get away from it all." Her words slurred, and ran together as if she was drunk. She pushed her hair from her face with a clumsy hand as finally, she gave into fatigue and dropped to the floor in a dead faint. Peter didn't reach her in time, but Nightwing did, catching the girl before she hit the ground and placed her on one of the two cots. Spiderman looked around, and shook his head slightly at his best friend, who lay on the cot, looking completely pale against the dark of her dress. He slipped off her shoes and tights, pulling sweatpants on her before quickly changing her shirt, he pulled the sheets up to her shoulders. She rolled over in her fatigued sleep and mumbled, before curling in on herself and falling into a silent slumber once more. Spiderman rubbed his head, silently wishing that he could take off his mask.

"She's going to run herself into the ground." Nightwing nodded silently before saying "Could we help her?"

"I'm listening." Spiderman said, crossing his arms and sitting in a nearby chair, gesturing for him to do the same. Nightwing sat in a chair backwards, his arms crossed over the back. "I know you are not her, partner, but we have a team, a covert operations team that is a branch of the League, that consists of its younger counterparts. Why doesn't Riley join?" There was silence and then Nightwing's voice grew serious "Peter, she needs people her own age." Peter sighed and pulled off his mask. He looked old. He was only eighteen, and yet he felt like the world was on his shoulders. Anonymous needed kids her own age, it was something that she always refused.

"I know that she does, but she doesn't play well with others."

"We can change that."

"You make it sound like a psych ward."

"It isn't a psych ward, it's just normal interaction." They both chuckled at the irony. Superheroes, under any circumstance, were not normal.

"I'll talk to her, and if all else fails, I'll trick her." He smiled wryly and pulled his mask back on, obscuring his tired face with that of a hero. He quickly scrawled out a note, nodded to Nightwing and disappeared in a flash of red and blue. Nightwing smiled slightly and quickly left the bunker, making sure the entrance was well hidden underfoot. Riley was asleep for a long time, the sleeplessness of around a week catching up with her. After around twelve hours, she sat up and looked down at herself. She rolled her eyes and muttered "Peter." Standing up, she walked over to the computer, which sat on a desk with all sorts of instruments surrounding the contraption. A note sat on the keyboard.

_Riley,_

_hello, sleeping beauty, first off, what were you thinking, not sleeping! you're fourteen, you can't just go around not sleeping. alright, just call me when you get up so i can chew you out some more._

_love, Peter_

Rolling her eyes, she pulled out her cell phone and called up Peter, it rang once.

"Aurelia Jacobs, you are in so much trouble right now. Just because Jay died doesn't mean you throw your health down the drain, he wouldn't want that for you. He thought you were amazing, he loved the fact that you could kick major butt. I'm not going to let you out into the city at night without an escort if you do not start taking care of yourself."

"Was that the fatherly rant, because I'm really not in the mood. Nice talking to you." She hung up the phone on a surprised Peter, who scowled into the phone. Riley scowled as well and walked over to her closet, pulling out her costume and pulling the dark fabric on. It wasn't high tech, she didn't have the money for it. The costume was just thick cloth that kept her warm and kept her hidden. That's all that mattered to her. Silently, she slipped from the bunker and into the city, leaping from building to building. She stopped at a coffee shop and pulled out a five-dollar bill. Dropping to the ground, she walked in and bought a hot chocolate getting more than a few odd looks. The cashier looked stunned and said "Wait, Anonymous is a girl?"

She nodded to the other customers and was on her way, she heard the click of a camera and she flinched slightly at the sound and the bright flash. She slipped into a nearby alleyway and scaled the wall to the top of the building. Then she waited. Alarms went off and the police radio beside her went insane. She jumped from the building, landing nimbly on her feet and began to run. She jumped up onto a nearby roof and continued running, the ground racing by her as she stopped a burglary with some struggle, exhaustion took a toll on her reflexes and before long, her almost partner stepped in and helped out, taking out most of the thug and leaving them for the police. Riley walked over to the counter and picked up her hot chocolate, sipping it as she disappeared in the shadows, Spiderman close behind.

"Anonymous, I wanted to talk to you."

"You just did."

"No, I wanted to tell you about something. Nightwing told me about it, a covert-ops team, a branch of the League that has their younger partners. He thought you might like to join."

"I don't play well with others. Right now, I don't want to play with anyone. I think I'm going to pass." Peter nodded and walked over to Riley, pulling her into a tight hug, ignorant of the hot chocolate in Riley's hands.

"Riles, you can't shut everyone out, you can actually talk to people your age, it makes me feel bad that I'm your only friend, and Dick as well, I'm sure. You cannot just be alone, you need to have a friend, at least a girlfriend, please, just give it a trial run. For Jay. He always wanted you to have another friend."

Riley sniffled a bit and hugged him back. "Fine, Pete, I'll try it."

"Yes!" Peter yelled, dangerously close to Riley's ear, in retaliation, she kicked him in the shin and backed out of the hug, sticking her tongue out rudely and running off, throwing her now-cold chocolate into a bin and patrolling, waiting for something to happen. She stayed out later than usual. She stayed out long after Peter had stopped his patrol. She could go on for longer. She walked to the junkyard, thumbs looped into her belt. Stepping into the bunker, she immediately sat at her computer, typing away at something, and showed no signs of stopping. That is, until morning came and a thump came above the bunker. Putting her mask over her eyes, but not bothering to pull up her cowl, she adjusted the corkboard that hung on the wall and pulled the door open to see Nightwing and two other people.

"Come in, I guess." She said, running a hand through her hair. They were in their civvies and Nightwing wore sunglasses over his eyes. She sat in her chair and spun around, facing the three. One had short red hair and skin that was Caucasian, until it morphed into green. A Martian. The other had blonde hair and clear blue eyes that roved the small metal room and landed on the corkboard behind Riley. She saw where her eyes landed and said "You laugh and then you suffer my wrath. Simple as that Wondergirl." She smiled sweetly and Wondergirl smiled back, a full grin that was slightly contagious.

"Anonymous, a pleasure to meet you Miss Martian." She nodded to Miss Martian who responded "Hello, I heard you were going to try us out."

"Spidey can't keep that mouth of his shut for long, bless his poor soul." She kept up the easy façade of having it all under control. Nightwing watched, his face impassive, he saw what Riley was doing, and he didn't like it, but still said nothing. Riley watched him, then asked why they had come. Wondergirl spoke up excitedly, "Well, Nightwing said that you didn't have a good place to stay, not that this place isn't awesome, but we where gonna offer to let you stay at headquarters." Her eyes widened innocently with excitement and the stars in her lobes winked as she bounced slightly. Riley smiled slightly, one side of her face curling up in a smile, while the other twitched up, as if it didn't feel the same excitement, it was almost like a grimace. She looked at Wondergirl again, and sighed.

"Got nothing to lose." She said and shrugged. "Well, guess I'll pack, I'll be out in a second." Riley bent down beneath the table and pulled out a duffle bag, which was surprisingly full, as if it had never been unpacked. Then she packed up her desk, taking each piece and placing it either in a beat-up backpack or the bag. Then she slung the bag on her shoulder and folded up the empty corkboard and tucked it under her arm, she double checked the bunker before nodding to the three heroes, her hair falling in front of her domino mask. She quickly brushed it away and locked the bunker door behind her, making sure that the key hung around her neck, hidden under her uniform. Silent, she stepped onto the ship that hovered a foot off the ground and took the empty seat. Wondergirl, who sat in front of her turned around and talked to her. When she didn't respond, she sighed and said "Alright, I know this is probably the last thing you want to do. Your bunker reminded you of your brother, and I'm sorry about his death, but I think that maybe, it'll be good for you to move on. Let him go, I suppose, and maybe, he'll come back to you. I mean, if you something, you set it free, right?"

Riley smiled at the other girl and nodded "I guess, sorry I'm being a killjoy, my two best friends are five years older than me, and they're guys, I'm not very good around girls my age, it's a cross between weird and concerning."

Wondergirl nodded and watched as the clouds moved by. Silent, but her mind was racing. Riley smirked at her vacant expression and settled back in the seat, fiddling with the tassel that hung off of her pack. She turned to Miss Martian. "So what exactly do you call this ship? It's not, uh, normal, for lack of a better word."

"It's a BioShip, It responds to me, as it is organic."

Riley smiled and quickly surveyed the ship, her eyes widening behind the lenses of her mask. "Awesome." She self consciously ran her hands over the bumpy surface of the board that she had made. An anti-gravity board. She kept it a secret from nearly everyone, only Peter knew about it, since he saw her testing it. She liked things to be secretive. She turned her head so she was watching the sky rush by. Then the Bioship slid to a stop and the hatch opened. Riley stood and pulled her pack on her shoulders, then grabbed the duffle bag, gripping the handles and tucking the corkboard under her arm. She followed the rest out, staying a step behind them, staying wary as she saw a huge room that held a conference table that was pushed up to the edge of the room and a group of teens stood, talking amongst themselves.


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4:

Nightwing spoke up "Team, this is Anonymous, she's going to be joining the Team." Riley waved slightly with her free hand saying "Hi." And quickly looking down, her face slowly turning scarlet at the amount of eyes on her. Then her phone went off. Sighing, she answered it.

"Hello? I'm kind of busy."

"Sorry Anon. its Spidey."

"What about him?"

"No, this is Spidey."

"Be more specific next time _Spidey_." She sighed as if it was to be expected from him.

"So, how's it going?"

"You called to ask me that?"

"Yeah."

"Bye." With that she hung up and mumbled "Idiot." Pocketing the phone, she bit her lip and said "Sorry, he's an idiot, but he's loveable." Wondergirl nudged her and whispered "Was that your boyfriend." Riley nudged her back and whispered "No, he's one of my friend's that's five years older than me."

"Oh." Wondergirl whispered "I'll take you to your room."

"Thanks." She followed Wondergirl, picking up her duffle and slipping between people, muttering "Excuse me." She caught up with the overexcited blonde, and asked "So where are we exactly?"

"The Watchtower, well, one of the abandoned ones, since Mount Justice got blown up by The Light, which are the people we just defeated, along with The Reach."

"The aliens?"

"Yeah."

"Stinks I don't keep up with the news. I probably should start."

"You haven't heard about it?"

"We don't have a TV, or a newspaper subscription, and I didn't even meet Spiderman until this summer."

"Strict mom?"

"Yeah." But in her mind, she scoffed. Yeah right. Her mom was a hopeless drunk, who spent all of her money on booze and had anger issues when on the happy stuff. They stopped at a room with a black door that bore a dark blue spider insignia, matching the one she wore on her back. Riley grinned and walked up to the door. It opened for her and her room was revealed. She dropped her bag by the door and gestured for Wondergirl to come in. She stepped in and said "Nice door. Mine has a star on it, yours by far seems to suit you best." Wondergirl chuckled at her own comment and Riley smiled and stated frankly "I am actually pretty hostile if you get on my bad side, or you wake me up at an ungodly hour. Then we have an issue." then dropped her backpack on the bed and flipped on the light switch, revealing two large desks in the far corner, one with a rather large, high-tech computer, and the other lined with tools and trinkets, some half-finished and others completely mantled, but Riley grinned at the sight. Wondergirl shook her head slightly, but didn't say anything, because she did the same thing when she her own room. Each room had something that corresponded with their personality, what they liked to do. She smiled at the other girl and slipped from the room, the shutting behind her. Riley didn't hear the door shut, but immediately walked to the table and looked at the blueprints and contraptions spread out on the table. Her grin grew. The ideas here where brilliant, enough to last many sleepless nights. She walked over to her backpack and unstrapped the board and placed it on the table, in the single empty space and unpacked her own tools and blueprints. Then she looked towards the bookcase and dresser. Picking up her duffle, she finished unpacking, a sad smile crossing her face as she took out her favorite picture. It was blurry and slightly unfocused, but the glint of white teeth and clear blue eyes was sure in the picture along with a mop of dark hair. Riley smiled at the picture of herself and her brother. His hair was a shade darker then Riley's, making it a chestnut brown, instead of the dirty blonde color Riley's was. She kept her uniform on, just in case, her cowl still hung down her back, obscuring half of the spider insignia that covered her back. She pulled off the stifling boots and changed into tennis shoes, it was odd, the stark difference between the uniform, which ended at her ankles, and the beat-up shoes. It made her chuckle slightly and she stuffed her gloves into her pocket, and yanked the thumbholes of the uniform into their places. Her phone rang. Picking it up she saw the caller ID and ignored it. It was her mother. She could wait. She double checked the room before stepping out, she looked at her door and a sly grin crossed her face again and she ran her fingers over the cool metal and did a full on grin, revealing wicked sharp incisors that made her seem almost rabid. She brushed her hair out of her face and walked down the hall, her worn-out shoes not making much sound on the ground, simply light scuffs that could only be heard if you were looking for them. She heard the sounds that are usually made in a kitchen, clanging, cracking, bubbling, and all around chaos. She walked towards the sounds and stood at the door way as things where levitated across the room and Miss Martian stood, looking at a cookbook intently. Anonymous slid into a stool and rested her head on her elbows. She was ignorant of the person beside her as she watched, her head cocked slightly to the side. She wasn't looking at Miss Martian, though, she was watching the appliances. They were far ahead some of the most modern of contraptions. She continued to watch them, and the various bottles and containers that swooped about in the air, creating turmoil as Miss Martian cooked. She felt a nudge on her shoulder and she turned to see a boy about her age, obviously of Hispanic descent. "You can change you know."

"Eh."

"Is that even a word?"

"Dunno. Is it?"

"Course not. You should change."

"Fine, I'll be back." Riley nudged him again and jogged back to her room, where she pulled out a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, yanking them on, she tossed her uniform in a pile beside the bed, then grabbed her jacket before walking back into the kitchen and resuming her post on the barstool. The boy nodded and said, "I'm Jaime."

"Riley." She had replaced her usual mask with a pair of glasses that seemed to dominate most of her face. Everything about her was small, small face, small hands, but her personality was huge, she could dominate a room the second she entered it, if she wished to. But she never did, she would much rather blend in, be invisible, that is the reason why her costume only has the signature blue that Spiderman's has in one place, on her back. It was her own personal target. "So, who are you?"

"Blue Beetle."

"I'm sorry about your predecessor."

"How do you know about him?"

"I listen." Jaime nodded silently, still confused about how she would know, but dropped the subject. "You know who everybody else is?" He asked suddenly. Riley took her turn to shake her head.

"Miss Martian is Megan Morse, or M'Gann M'orzz, Kid Flash over there is Bart, Beast Boy, Gar, Wondergirl, Cassie, Batgirl, Babs, Superboy's Conner, Lagoon Boy, La'Gann, and Bumblebee, whose name is Karen, and Aqualad, or Kaldur. Then there's Mal, Gaurdian, as well as Karen's boyfriend"

Riley nodded at each name and the paid sat in silence for a few minutes before Riley spoke "I need to check my phone, and it's in my uniform. I'll be back." She flashed Jaime a lopsided smile that revealed one of her sharpened teeth and ran back to her room. With shaking hands, she checked her phone. Her mother had called. Many times. Slowly, she dialed the number and listened to it ring before her mother's voice rang through the phone.

"Where are you, you -" Riley calmly listened to her mom rant, her face completely devoid of emotion as she censored out words that she didn't want to hear.

"I'm going to be staying with some friends."

"For how long, you free-loading piece of -" her mother cursed into the phone.

"Indefinitely. I'll send you money, mom."

"You better -" Riley nodded at her mother's words and said. "I will." She kept the tremor from her voice as she walked to her jar of savings, and counted out money for what she called "THE MOM FUND" and placed the bills in an envelope before sliding it into her backpack, the canvas rustling as she touched it. She shoved her phone into her pocket and rubbed her face before going back to the kitchen. She sat back down and turned to Jaime and Bart, who joined their conversation not long after Riley sat down for a third time. Bart was chatty, but knew how to be quiet, he kept looking at Riley in a way that she didn't like. It was as if he knew something she didn't. Soon, everyone had left, leaving Megan, Conner, Gar, La'Gann, Kaldur, Riley and Nightwing, who was staying over, but didn't live at the Watchtower. Megan had finished cooking a casserole that looked slightly suspicious, but she ate some of it anyway. She watched everyone for a while, then moved her eyes to her plate, and she picked at her food. A voice was directed at her "Anonymous, you're not hungry?"

"It's Riley, and there's nothing wrong with the food, I promise, I'm just not very hungry, if you'll excuse me." Riley stood up and quickly scraped the food off her plate and rinsed it, placing it in the dishwasher. She quickly looked for a serial code, a number or something on the inside or outside, but saw nothing. Closing the hatch, she stood and left the room, quickly nodding to the others before slipping down the hall and towards her room. She had typed in the code and immediately sat in the swivel chair at the desks and began to work on her hoverboard, gently pushing the other contraptions to the side. She picked and chose from the tools and spare parts until the board looked like it would work. She flipped the switch on the underside and it slowly floated into the air, sputtered out and fell to the floor. Holding in a string of profanities, she began tinkering with it again. And again. And again, until before she knew it a knock was at her door, telling her it was time to get up. She looked up from her tinkering, and yelled "Be out in a second." She finished what she was doing and wiped off her hands, most of the grease and oil disappearing from her hands, save where the skin puckered at her joints. She left her room and walked into the kitchen rubbing her sleepless face, when she realized her glasses weren't on the bridge of her nose.

"Rats." She muttered and walked back to her room, looking for her glasses. She found them on her dresser and caught a glance of herself in the mirror. She looked like death warmed over. Quickly, she changed into fresher clothes and hid her dark circles with an expert hand, then walked back to the kitchen, quickly sifting through the cabinets for something to eat. She grabbed a box of cereal and began eating straight out of it, leaning up against the counter with one leg crossed over the other. Kaldur walked in to the odd sight and simply shook his head slightly, saying "Good morning, Riley." She nodded and ate another Cheerio, smiling to herself as more people filed in, all stretching or groaning slightly, save Megan and Nightwing, both of whom either are really chipper at all times of the day, or have some serious time issues. Megan looked from her to the box of Cheerios in her hands. No one said anything, except Gar, who walked up to her. "Why are you eating Cheerios?"

"They're good." She said with a smile. It was a real smile, the same one which she preserved for her younger brother.

"Noted." He went on his way and she watched him, head tilted slightly to the side. She moved from the kitchen and sat on a bar stool, stealing a glance on the clock. It was around ten. She was astonished to see that she worked for over twelve hours. She shrugged it off and straightened her shirt with her free hand. Everyone was sitting, standing, or sitting and watching static. Riley walked over to the couch and jumped over so she sat beside Conner. Setting down the box of cereal, she looked at the static then at the other boy. She was quiet and pulled her knees up to her chest. Her eyes quickly darted around the room, making sure she knew every exit, where she could run. She was good at knowing places to run. Places to hide. Folding her legs beneath her, she pulled out her cell phone. She remembered she had to visit her mom, give her the money. Hopping off the couch, she walked to her room and packed up her backpack quickly, making sure she had all of the money, and her supplies if anything went wrong. Then she realized something. Her uniform wasn't on the bed or in the closet. She walked out of the room, her eyebrows brought together and the corners of her mouth brought down in a frown. She walked past Nightwing and then stopped. "Nightwing, I wanted to ask you something."


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5:

"Alright, what?"

"First, where's my uniform, and second, how do I get out of here, I have to visit someone."

"Your uniform is being 'redone' so to speak, the material was not suitable for our _activities_. To get out you use the zeta-tubes, c'mon, I'll show you. He walked Riley to the main room, where three zeta-tubes where.

"We have one set up in New York, thankfully, just remember where it is, and where we are, and no problem."

"Where are we exactly, other than the abandoned Watchtower."

"We call it Mount Justice, so just look for that."

"Got it, thanks." She nodded to him and set the tube for New York City. Stepping in, she saw a bright flash of light before stumbling out into an alley. Clamping a hand over her mouth, she forced down the bile that filled it and leant up against the wall, gasping before straightening again and beginning her walk down the street, towards her house. Inwardly, she prayed that her mother wouldn't be awake, and if she was awake, then hopefully not drunk off her head. Slowly, she unlocked the apartment and walked to her room quickly and picked up the rest of her things, pictures, small things. Then she pulled out the envelope and stepped into the kitchen, quickly cleaning the rooms out front and leaving the envelope. She was about to leave when strong hands gripped her shoulders and threw her back so she collided with the wall, and blows rained down on her. She curled in on herself as her mother screamed at her, yelling all sorts of things in a blurred, drunken haze. The blows stopped and Riley stumbled to her feet, a limp prominent as she left the house, the blur of her pain making her thoughts blurry. She limped to the warehouse and slumped against the crates, her breathing rapid, irregular, as she tried to push herself up from her position. Pulling out bandages, she wet them and scrubbed her face with it. A bright light shone through the warehouse and a voice called out "Recognized: Wondergirl." Riley groaned quietly as she heard footsteps coming towards her. Closing her eyes, she immediately moved away when a hand touched her shoulder, trying to get away from the blurred figure. She didn't want to be touched. Not by Cassie, not by anyone. She stood up and ran, leaving her bag behind her in her haste. Cassie stood there, confused, then ran after her, calling up the Team.

"Uh, guys? I ran into Riley and she was beat up outside the tube and then she ran off."

"Which way did she go?" a voice she did not recognize came through the comm.

"Straight out and to the left, I don't think she'll get far, she was limping." Cassie winced as a few choice words made their way through the speaker. "Got it, thank you Wondergirl." The connection was cut and a blur of red and blue whizzed past her.

Riley was running, she moved quickly past people, her feet carrying her across the pavement quickly and she slipped into an alley, dark spots dancing in front of her vision. A blue and red blur landed in front of her. She stared at it until recognition sparked.

"Peter?"

"The one and only. What happened?"

"She's at it again. I had to get some stuff, and drop off the money, but she found me." Riley was shaking and Peter picked her up. She ran a hand over his mask, then lifted it up, so she could look at his face. She pulled it back over his face and hopped from his embrace and stood shakily on the ground.

"I'll be back at the Tower by nightfall, don't worry about me." She limped away from her elder and back to the warehouse, picking up he discarded bag, she walked back to the streets and to the bunker, where she lay on the cot and finally let the tears slip free. Burying her face in her hands she cried and then just sat on the bed until the sun began to fall, then she walked back to the warehouse, before stepping out of the tube and straight to her own room, ignoring the stares that she received from its residents. Riley walked to her room and into the adjoining bathroom. Stripping off her clothes, she stepped into the warm water and felt the throbbing of the bruises slowly fade under the jets.

Cassie was confused. Spiderman had told the Team that Riley would be back by nightfall. When she returned, she spoke not a word to anyone and went straight to her room. Cassie heard the water running, and sighed. There was no getting through to that girl, no matter what you did, there wasn't anything to get close to her. Cassie didn't understand what was going on. Maybe it wasn't that she didn't understand, she just couldn't comprehend.

Riley stepped from the shower and pulled on her undergarments then surveyed the damage. Bruises, only bruises, a few cuts here and there, a busted lip, nothing that can't be hidden that difficultly. Walking into her room, the towel still around her, she pulled out her pajamas. Which were actually just sweatpants and a sweatshirt. They also doubled as her workout clothes on a cold day, as simply her sports bra, thin t-shirt, and shorts wouldn't do for the New York climate half the time. Pulling on a pair of socks, she picked up the clothes from the shower and folded them, placing them on the small table in front of her bed. She sat at her table and began her work, falling asleep on the board not an hour after she had begun.

A knock came at her door. All they got was a sluggish groan and a "Go away, unless you wish to die a painful death."

Riley had been moved to her bed sometime in the night and was snuggled beneath the clean sheets, rolling over so her back faced the metal door and pulling her blanket closer to her. The door opened to reveal practically the whole Team, all of them chuckling slightly. Jaime and Cassie looked like they were about to burst. Riley sat up and ruffled her hair, which was sticking up in odd places. She scowled at them and said "You want to die?"

Kid Flash shook his head and coolly said "No, not really."

"Then leave." She rolled out of the bed, stretched, then put on her glasses. Her bruised face contorted painfully as her ribs moved the wrong way, but kept herself calm as she shut the door and changed from sweatpants to shorts, before pulling on her shoes, tying the fraying laces before walking out into the main room. She sat down in the one free chair that was faced by nearly everyone in the Team. She smiled sheepishly and stood up to grab the box of Honey-Nut Cheerios (don't judge. They're amazing). She successfully grabbed them and sat in the chair, her legs crossed Indian style and the box in her lap. Conner spoke first.

"You are going to tell us what happened."

"What?" Riley played dumb, but inwardly she was completely freaking out. She kept her face and thoughts schooled though, and eyed the Martian in the room, who was watching her intently. Kaldur answered the question.

'We want to know who beat you up."

"Just some thugs. I couldn't really fight them, though, it might give me away, and well, it's New York, news travels faster than the flu there." Riley lied smoothly, keeping her face impassive while keeping eye contact. They didn't believe it, and Conner growled.

"I have to work on something, so I will take the cereal and see you later." She stood up gracefully from the chair and left the room, ignoring the glances. She walked into her room and immediately dropped the façade, trying to calm herself down, she began to pace back and forth running a hand worriedly through her hair. She remembered the fact she didn't ice her bruises. Groaning, she walked into the kitchen and filled a plastic baggie with ice, then wrapped it in a kitchen towel before walking back to her room, she passed Cassie, and nodded to the other girl before placing the cold bundle over her black eye. She stopped at her room and opened the door, pressing the hidden catch discreetly before slipping in, keeping the ice on her face the whole time. There wasn't as much swelling, but the ice will make her face look nearly normal, less sleep-deprived, and maybe, hopefully, less battered. She kept to her room that whole day, not really doing anything. She came out to eat. That night, they heard the shower and the rustling of clothes and a knock came from the door. It was Bart. He examined her black eye, which looked nearly normal, save the discoloration. He crossed his arms and stepped in, an air of knowing around him. The door slid shut and Riley leant uneasily against it, not liking Kid Flash's posture.

"You are Aurelia Jacobs. You are abused by your mother."

"How do you-"

"Well, I am from the future."

"You-stay out of my business, and get away from me, and if you speak a word to anyone, I will personally make sure the future does not have another child." Riley ground out, her fist clenching and unclenching over and over trying to calm herself, opening the door, she let Bart out and silently wished that she could hurt him in some way. She saw a dark bundle on her bed. Unfolding it, she gasped at what she saw.

It was a new uniform. It was most definitely stronger and more durable and had flexible armor-like padding. She just stared at it for a while, and then walked to the bathroom to pull the suit on. Changing into her underclothes, she pulled the suit on, marveling at the fit. Her first suit was ill fitting in a few places, no matter how many times she tried to fix it. This one was absolutely perfect. Pulling the cowl over her head she grinned. She looked, and felt like a real hero now. She thought it was just the costume, but it was something else, she realized just what a hero was supposed to do, other than stand up for those who cannot defend themselves, but stand up for themselves, as sometimes heroes need heroes to save them.

Anonymous needed a hero. She wasn't going to say a word though. Her head was too thick. Slipping on the boots she grinned at herself as she restocked her belt and readjusted her web shooters, which had blended into her uniform, and stopped in front of the mirror, nodding appreciatively at her reflection. She stepped out of her room and into the hall, pulling the gloves over her hands and playing with the gauntlets that doubled as armor as well as a computer, or whatever else. She double checked her utility belt for her vial of venom, the cloudy liquid swirled in the vial as she quickly replaced the vial in its pocket. Wondergirl passed her and immediately stopped.

"Love the new outfit, now c'mon, we're gonna be late!"


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6:

The blonde gripped Riley's wrist and dragged her to the main room, where it seemed everyone was waiting. Not for them, but for Kid Flash, whose name was announced over the tube seconds after Anonymous and Wondergirl entered. Anonymous watched as everyone groaned good naturedly at his lateness, and Kaldur solemnly said "You're late." Even he had a small, but distant smile on his face. Kid Flash grinned and winked at Artemis, who rolled her eyes, but still gave her boyfriend's successor a hug. Riley watched them, then reverted her attention to Kaldur, who was explaining a mission. She zoned in. It was a drug deal. It should be easy. If she was going. He called out the teams. She wasn't in any of them. She calmly kept her face impassive, her mouth neither twisting into a scowl or a grin. Her face was perfectly calm, even without the mask hiding half of her face. Kid Flash wasn't either. That was when she scowled. She didn't like Kid Flash, she found him loud and annoying. Kid Flash didn't know what to think about Riley. He knew everything about her, and it scared her. He knew what she would become, he knew all of her secrets. That was what scared her the most. Anonymous crossed her arms and rested her weight on one leg, making her hip pop out to the side. Her face was completely impassive. From a certain angle, she could be a female Batman. Kid Flash watched her then turned on his way. Riley herself walked to the gym and stood facing the large room. There where uneven bars, parallel bars, other gymnast's equipment, punching bags, targets, and nearly everything needed for a hero to work out. She just needed to blow off steam. Unzipping the hero top, she let it fall around her waist. Tying the sleeves so the uniform stayed, she stood in her top and stood on the track, beginning to run, starting at a slow jog then increasing to a full on sprint, then back down to a jog. Whenever she stumbled, she would easily regain her footing and continue. She continued to run until she could barely breathe. She continued to walk though, her mind working furiously. She gave her mom money to last a long time, so she shouldn't need to return for a while. That was good. Good. That was a almost a foreign word to her. Stretching, her joints popped and she walked to the uneven bars and jumped up on to the highest one, hanging upside down by it, she reached up and sat on the bar, her hands resting lightly on the bar. Moving into a handstand on the bar, she swung around a few times, gloves shielding her hands from the friction that increased with each swing. She let go and hurtled through the air, curling in to a somersault then landing on the ground on two feet. Grinning, she sat up on the bar again. This time, she nearly fell off when someone yelled "Hello? Anyone home?"

Captain Marvel stood at the door, in all of his tall and intimidating glory.

"Hey Captain, how's it going?"

"Just fine, thank you, where's everyone else?"

"Out on a mission, it's just me and Kid Flash. Sadly."

"Oh."

"Yeah. Want to join me?"

"Yeah, hold on—SHAZAM!" with that, he turned into a thirteen-year-old kid.

"I'm Billy."

"Well, I'm Riley, a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise." she offered him a hand to help him up, and soon enough, Kid Flash joined them on the bar. Riley straddled the bar to face the two boys. They talked about everything, and Kid Flash acted like a normal teen, from the present age, minus saying "crash" and "mode" every so often. Billy fell off in the middle of the conversation, which led to Riley nearly falling off, but catching herself while holding her stomach. She had zipped up the top half of her suit and kept her gloves on. Her cowl hung down her back, and her hair hung in her eyes. A smile was on her face though, and I guess that was their plan all along. She offered Billy a hand back up onto the bar and the smile remained on her face. Billy feigned death, and the smile turned into a full blown grin, incisors and all. Billy looked surprised at her teeth and reached out to touch them.

"Nope, no touching the teeth, unless you want to die." She bit her hand, showing how sharp they were and the holes closed up not long after the venom was inserted at the point and as the venom coursed through her veins, some of her bruises disappeared.

"I can't believe I didn't think of that earlier. Just don't touch the teeth, I don't know what my venom does to others, but it burns." They nodded and Riley offered Billy her hand, and so did Kid Flash, they pulled the younger boy up and onto the bar. Riley pulled herself back up into her old position, one leg on each side of the bar and hands one in front of the other before her, holding part of her weight, making her lean forward slightly. They talked for a while longer and Riley decided to jump from the bar into the air, her thin body hurtling through the air as she shot a web and hung above them, her hair hanging down. She watched the two teens with large eyes.

"When did Captain Marvel become a kid?"

"He always was. Is."

"But you were only allowed on the Justice League because they thought you were old?"

"Yup." Billy smiled almost smugly, still gripping the wooden bar beneath his fingers.

"Nice." Riley smiled at him and dropped to the ground, her feet meeting the mat with a solid thud. Billy jumped down, and stumbled slightly on his landing, and Bart jumped down beside Riley.

"What should we do now?" Riley asked, shrugging as she took a step or two back, the proximity between the three was rubbing against her frayed nerves.

Kid Flash smiled devilishly, "Prank?"

Riley shrugged "Never pranked before." Then the both of them heard a "SHAZAM" and a blinding flash of light came through the room.

"I have to go, see you guys later." And with that, an old-ified Billy flew from the room, in all of his superhero glory.

"I still don't get how he can be so old, when he's thirteen."

"Neither do I, just live with it."

"Alright, so pranking?"

"Wally introduced me to it, this is going to be crash, you can web people's doors and everything else." He grinned devilishly and grabbed Riley's arm, pulling her to the hallway, talking so fast that Riley didn't understand about anything and everything that he said. Anonymous just blinked and slowly removed his hand from her arm. She watched him until he finally shut his mouth. Then they heard talking from the other side of the room and Bart sighed "So much for that plan, hey guys!" Riley waved at them, watching them all warily. She didn't trust many people, and most of the Team was no exception. There seemed to be too many of them. A whole lot of them, ruffling her hair with a hand, she pulled out her cell phone and rung up Peter.

"Pete? You busy?"

"In a meeting with the big guys."

"Call you later, bye."

"Bye." Riley hung up the phone after he said his good-bye and put the contraption away. Kid Flash looked over at her. "So, we still on for a pranking spree?"

Riley rolled her eyes and pushed him "Obviously, not" She said, refusing to look at him.

"So, do I have your word?"

"Of course not." She scoffed crossing her arms and looking at him. "I don't prank people."

"Why don't you like me?" He asked, his eyes widening.

"I never said I didn't like you."

"But you thought it."

"I did no such thing."

"You don't have to, it's written all over your face 'Relia." She scowled at him.

"How about you leave me alone, or I will use my venom on you." She masked her anger exceptionally well. Kid Flash saw through all her facades. It scared her. For the second time in Riley's life, she was actually scared. She kept up face and walked calmly from the room, her posture completely lax, the only thing betraying her feelings where her balled fists that swung at her sides. Walking to her room she slumped up against the door, once she was inside. She waited for an hour or so. It was late. She needed to patrol. Standing up she left her room and walked to the transporter and walked out in New York City, bag over her shoulder and cowl making half of her face. Stashing her bag in a crate, she walked through the city. Her cell phone went off.

"Hello?"

"Riles?"

"Pete?"

"Yeah, I'm in a bit of a situation."

"Stuck in the window again?" Riley heard faint laughs on the other end of the phone. She smiled herself, remembering the time fondly.

"No." The older teen ground out, Riley could hear his exasperation, and her face softened, even though Peter couldn't see it. "We need something."

"Spidey, please don't tell me you need my venom." Her face immediately turned hard.

"Alright, _I_ won't tell you." He said, putting more emphasis than necessary on the "I" Riley nearly groaned out loud. A serious voice came through the speaker, making her flinch.

"Riley, you need to meet us at the Oscorp building, with your venom, understood?"

It was Wonder Woman and Riley nodded, saying, "Alright, I guess, but one vial. Only one." The small bit of fear leaked into her voice "I'll see you…when?"

"Midnight."

"Got it." Riley hung up "Bye Spidey."


	7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7:

Moving quickly through the city, she finally landed on her own roof. Sighing, she quickly moved down the walls, and into her own room, slipping the dark room and pulling out a bag filled with small vials, each one marked with a date. Pulling out one vial, and quickly leaving the room, she latched onto the wall, letting out a sigh and checking her watch. She had thirty minutes to get to Oscorp. She could walk and make it easy. Dropping to the streets, she walked down them, keeping to the shadows as she moved through the city, and quickly took out robbers and such, petty thieves who didn't know what they were doing. Quickly she moved through the city and climbed up the building with around five seconds to spare. Smiling to herself she sat on the roof dangling her feet off the side, but keeping all her weight on her hands. She heard footsteps, quickly standing and spinning on her heel, she gripped the handle of her bag. Wonder Woman stood in front of her with Spiderman, who was limping.

"What has the idiot gotten into this time?" she muttered to herself, earning an indignant snort from the masked Peter.

"I'm fine, thanks for asking me."

"Well, you're a liar when it comes to your sense of self-preservation and taking care of yourself."

"So are you." Anonymous narrowed her eyes and walked over to her best friend. She sat him on the edge of the building and took off his boot and wrinkled her nose at the smell and the swelling, pulling a bandage from her belt, she wrapped it tightly and pulled the boot back on.

"I don't want you testing it on anyone. If I even suspect you are doing so, I will go to the Watchtower, no matter how many alarms I set off and get it back myself. Am I understood?"

"Yes ma'am." Spiderman said, mock saluting the younger girl. She glared at him and nodded to Wonder Woman, saying "Good job training Cassie, she's cool." With that, she jumped from the building and swung to the ground, the web retracting into the contraption strapped to her wrist. She continued through the streets, stopping whatever crime she could. It gave her the outlet she needed. She had to purge all emotion that she thought unnecessary. It was how she worked. When she finished, she stepped into the warehouse and out in the Watchtower. Walking into the large room, she stopped and looked around, then continued through the room, pulling her cowl off and rubbing her face. Grabbing ice from the freezer she sat on the counter and placed it over her black eye, which was inflamed again.

Miss Martian floated in, watching the younger girl curiously. She had seen many things, and yet, she had never met a girl like Riley, and she had known Artemis for years. Riley was very secretive and kept everything bottled up. She knew that Riley lied this morning, but said nothing, as she was an amazing physical liar, Megan had to admit. She floated towards her again, saying "Hello Riley," Riley jumped up and turned around, the ice falling to the floor, the bag busting and shards of ice skittering across the floor. Dropping into a squat, Riley began picking up the ice, and dropping it into the sink, each handful making plinks as they hit the bottom. Megan watched for a while, then levitated them, dropping them in the sink herself. She didn't need her telepathy to know that Riley was scared. All of her muscles where tense. Riley was scared of the Martian, not because she wasn't a good person, but because of what she can do.

"Hey Megan," She hid her hands behind her back and rocked back on her heels, forcing her muscles to relax. "Whatcha doing up?"

"Could ask you the same question, you okay?" Asked Megan as she dropped to the ground, her feet making little sound as they came in contact with the ground.

"Yeah, I'm fine, had to blow off some steam, I'm gonna hit the shower, see ya around." Riley turned from the older girl and walked to her own room, and stepped into the shower, the hot water pelting her bruises. Then she bit her hand, letting the venom into her system. She sighed slightly as her bruises started to throb less and she took deep breaths, feeling and odd sense of euphoria sweep through her system. Stepping from the shower, she looked in the mirror. Sighing, she rubbed her face.

"I look like death warmed over." Pulling a sweatshirt over her head, and shorts up her legs, before tumbling onto her bed, asleep before her head hit the pillow. When morning came, she barely registered people walking in, whispering, then leaving. She just rolled over and rolled closer into herself. When she woke up, she sat up and immediately glanced at the clock. It read out 3:21 AM. Groaning, she fell back on the bed before rolling off of the mattress and stepping out into the hallway. The lights where on, but only just. She walked back into her room and flicked on the industrial light above her workspace. Then she set to work, slaving over her hoverboard, trying until it floated on its own. Slowly, she stepped onto the board, and promptly, it clattered to the ground, with Riley. She started laughing, and stood up, picking up the board and setting it beside the computer. A knock came at her door.

"Come in." She said, booting up the computer and turning to the door. It was seven o'clock. Kaldur stood at the door.

"Is everything alright, I heard something fall."

"That was me, I was trying something, it's not working yet. You can come in if you want." Kaldur accepted her request with a nod and stepped in.

"What where you working on?"

"This." Carefully, Riley picked up the board and handed it to him. "It can float, but it can't hold weight." Kaldur inspected the contraption in his hands, and turned it over a few times.

"This is a very fine piece of work, but you are missing…" Aqualad explained the issue to her and she joined him on the bed, realization washing over her.

"That is so obvious! I feel kind of like an idiot now! Thanks Kaldur!" She grinned at him, but didn't hug him, like the Atlantean half expected her to. She gently took the contraption from his hands and quickly set to work, her hands darkening with oil and grease.

"Dirty hands, clean equipment." She muttered to herself as Kaldur watched her, her sweatshirt sleeves rolled up and her short hair held back by a headband, and some strands still fell into her eyes. He could see why Kid Flash liked her so much. She was just a likable person, small, but had a huge personality, once you brought it out of her. She worked for a while longer and set the board on the ground, and flipping it on. It began to float up into the air. Tentatively, she stepped onto the board, and it held her weight. A grin crossed her face, and she lost her balance, and fell back, landing onto her elbows. It was going to bruise, but she was too happy to care. Sitting up, she plucked the board from the air and grinned again.

"Thank you so much, I've working on this for ages, I should have known that was what I needed to do." She continued smiling, wiping her hands off so only a small amount of oil and grease remained on her hands. The Atlantean smiled at her antics and nodded to her "It is my pleasure, Riley." She continued smiling and placed the board on the table. Her phone went off.

"Hello?"

"Riley?" She didn't recognize the voice.

"Yes? Is something wrong?"

"No, it's your father."

"What about him?"

"This is him." Riley scowled into the phone.

"What do you want?"

"Can't I visit my family?"

"No. Hold on." She placed the phone on her shoulder and picked up her backpack, slinging it onto her back she looked at Kaldur "I need to go, I'll be back soon, thank you again." The ghost of a smile flashed over her face. And she left, Kaldur behind her.

"I'm coming, don't mess with her."

"No problem, dearie." Riley scowled again and went to New York, hanging up the phone. She walked to the apartment and saw all of the lights on. It was eight o'clock in the morning. It's a good thing that only working people live in the building, and they had all left. Unlocking the door, she walked in the room.


	8. Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8:

"Hello father, it hasn't been long enough."

"There, I must disagree with you. I haven't seen you in so long."

"You made my mother a drunk."

"She made herself a drunk."

"You left. That is why I can never forgive you." She looked down at the ground.

"Look at me." She complied. "Tell me my name."

"_Rumpelstiltskin." She ground out, looking him square in the eye. "I do not share your sentiments."_

_"Is that what all the scowls are for? You used to love my visits."_

_"When you were supporting us, when you cared, but instead, you sent my mother pictures of you and some road-worker in the Caribbean. It broke her."_

_"Good, now I'll have fun breaking you."_

_"That won't be easy. I have nothing left to live for." Riley crossed her arms and looked at him evenly._

_"But I can try." A wolfish grin crossed his face and Riley began to back away, dialing her phone for Peter, and breaking into a run. _

_"Riley, I'm busy."_

_"I'm sorry, I really am, but I'm in trouble, I never told you about my dad. He's Rumpelstiltskin, and he's chasing me. I just left my apartment, and I'm running so, please get unbusy and don't tell anyone."_

_"I'll see what I can do. Just stay calm and don't hide where you can't run, understood? Keep me on the line."_

_"Got it." She removed the phone from her ear and was clutching it in her hand, and continued running, moving away from the feet that over behind her at a quickening rate. _

_"Riles, you still there?"_

_"Yeah."_

_"Who is Rumplestiltskin exactly?"_

_"Like Zatanna. Has magic, makes deals. Exactly like the book character. Minus the naming, he takes care of that himself." She continued to run, and jumped up onto a fire escape and climbed up onto the rooftops, jumping from roof to roof as his men continued to chase her. Without warning, he reappeared in front of her. _

_"Hello, dearie. Where do you think you're going?"_

_She frowned at him and leaped off the building. She caught onto a window ledge with one hand and held the phone to her ear. "You still there, Pete?"_

_"Spiderman is not able to come to the phone right now."_

_"Wonder Woman?"_

_"Yes."_

_"Hold on." She dropped to the next window with a slight yelp and a thud, then dropped to the next until she hit the ground. "Where's Spidey?" _

_"Right here."_

_"I'm seriously freaking out. I can't outrun a guy with magic." She let her panic leak into her voice as she continued to run, faster and faster. _

_"Just calm down."_

_"Bit too late." she said. Rumple reappeared in front of her. "Stop running. You'll get nowhere." His voice had lost his playful tone and now sounded serious. _

_"I can get somewhere." she growled and faced him, looking him in his molten-gold eyes. "Away from you and the rest of my stupid dysfunctional family." With that she kicked him hard in the shin and slammed her elbow into his face, the kicking him hard again before leaping over his prone figure and running until she found a place to hide far enough away then she let herself break down, the phone was limp in her hands as Peter's calls fell to deaf ears. She shut off the line, covering her face with a hand, trying to slow the tears. He found her. Riley was simply an emotional mess. She drew herself together and dialed the number again. _

_"Pete?"_

_"Yeah?"_

_"Thanks. I don't think I'll be heading home for a while." She forced a smile into the phone and began to jog towards the warehouse, making sure that her pack was still secured to her back. Walking through the crates, she stepped in the tube and stepped back out in a flash of light and an automated voice. Walking from the tube to the kitchen, she grabbed a water and drank half the bottle nearly at once. Walking to the couch, she jumped over the back and sat there. Her expression matched those of the shell shocked as she picked up her phone and rearranged her features so they remained impassive. She placed the phone in her pocket and pulled out a journal. Each page was covered in stories, small words cramped into lines on some pages and large, loopy writing on others. Pulling out a pen, she began to write in cramped writing, everything rushing out until it was nearly illegible. The words blended together into a story. Each page was its own. It was how she found out about the hoverboard. She blamed Rumple. Rumple was a seer, a magician. A sorcerer. Riley found that she could see the future. She wasn't a meta, at least not completely. The ability didn't affect her physically, which made her just like practically everyone else. But there was a difference, she saw the future. She wrote it, and sometimes made things from it. She closed the notebook once she ran out of things to write and was completely tired. It was only the middle of the day. No one was there. Tucking away the book and crossed her legs in front of her, and leant back so she faced the ceiling. She closed her eyes, and didn't hear the footsteps. She heard them when they were in front of her and her eyes snapped open. She yelped and immediately jumped away, moving to the opposite end of the couch in a mere second, moving incredibly quickly, something that was only thought to be capable of the Flash family. Her eyes widened, fear flickering through them before disappearing and her eyes returned to their normal size. _

_"Hello Wonder Woman, what brings you here?"_

_"Looking for Wonder Girl. Do you know where she is?"_

_"Sorry, I really don't know, just got in. I'll tell you if I see her." She pulled her pack close to her and began digging through the contents. She sighed when she didn't have it. "I'll see you later. It was a pleasure seeing you Wonder Woman." Pulling out another journal from her seemingly-bottomless pack, she pulled out a pencil, the thin wood moving quickly across the paper. Riley heard the older woman walk away, her heels clicking on the ground. Riley sighed once the woman left and dropped the journal, revealing the sketch she was drawing over. She just wanted the woman to leave. Wonder Woman made her uneasy, and she put away the journal and zipped up her backpack. _

_Stretching, she stood and walked to the locker room, changing into the workout clothes she stuffed into the locker. She stretched out her muscles again, feeling them groan after their constant abuse. Sitting on the bench for a second, she let herself breath, then placed her pack in her locker, and locking it, not like that would be much of help with a bunch of supers running around the tower. Standing, she left the room and walked into the gym, her tennis shoes hitting the ground lightly. Adjusting her equipment, she shot a web onto the ceiling and launched herself across the room, swinging until she alighted on the ground, and retracted the web, the substance sliding back into the device on her wrist . She paced for a little while and readjusted her shorts, then continued to move in a never ending line. She was stir crazy. She felt completely closed in, like she couldn't breathe. Leaning against the wall, her palm against the cool surface, she rubbed her face with the other hand, the gloved material scratching her face a bit. Pushing off the wall, she flipped into a handstand, her gloved hands sticking to the floor. Her hair hung into her face. She was unsure of what her next move should be. With no doubt, the whole League knew about her father. Rumple wasn't a big-time hero, but he was going for the big time, he wanted "the credit he deserves". She flipped over back onto her feet. She saw Peter at the doorway and immediately ran over to him, gripping him into a tight hug, then retreating as quickly as she had come into the embrace. _

_"We need to talk, Riles." He said, the small, slightly goofy smile that adorned his face disappearing. Riley's own smile was quickly replaced with a serious look. "Why didn't you tell us about Rumple?" he asked immediately. Riley looked at her feet and easily went into a handstand. _

"I was ashamed, who wouldn't be. And who is 'us'? I only told you." She said, suspicion nearly dominating her tone.

"Not much is secret in the League, no matter what I do." She scowled, her resident position making it turn into a rather grotesque smile.

"Okay, what do you want to know about him, now that the cat's out of the bag, so to speak?" She said, readjusting the weight so it was only on her fingertips.

"Everything you know about him." Riley lowered her feet and placed them solidly on the floor, before straightening up to her rather unimpressive height saying, "All I know is that he wants to be one of the big guys, and that he will, if we don't do something. He is a magician, and he will not hesitate to use his area of expertise, deal making, to get what he wants. His deal making is different, it is never fair and only one person had ever beat him, my mother, but he left after I was born and sent money. One day he didn't send money, he sent a picture of him kissing a woman who looked like a hooker and words in black sharpie saying DEAL'S OFF. Then my mom went at it. And here I am. Slightly POed and scarred for life, but still here. That's all I know, he's not necessarily a family man, if you have not gathered. Are your League buddies listening in?"

Peter had a lopsided grin on his face and he winked at a camera above them. Riley burst into laughter "Pete, I'm really happy that you got friends, other than myself and Dick, but you just had to get eavesdropping whackjobs, who walk around wearing masks and/or tight costumes." She stopped laughing long enough to say those words , then busted into laughter again. Peter frowned and pushed her off balance, resulting in her falling to the floor and laughing from there. She composed herself and stood up, pushing Peter over easily and latching onto the ceiling and scurrying away, the red spider hot on her heels. Soon enough, she slammed onto the floor from the ceiling. A grinning Peter on the ceiling. She laid there, letting out wheezing laughter as she sat up and shot up a web that latched onto her senior and yanked hard, causing him to hit the ground. The League, who were all watching, winced in sympathy as an audible crack resounded through the room. Peter stood back up and stretched.

"It is on, Riley." She immediately began running to the parallel bars and climbed up onto the tall one, and from there, flipped through the air and landing on Peter's shoulders, only to be launched off. Both New York vigilantes where laughing too hard to take their squabble seriously. Peter and Riley ended up on the floor and Peter's face turned serious.

"Why didn't you tell anyone?"

"'Bout Dad?" Peter nodded. "I don't know. I was ashamed, I guess, since I come from magical blood, I have my own version of magic, but it's prophesying. I know exactly what will happen years from now. No, I won't tell you. The time stream will get jacked up. I will only say what I know in a time of dire need. That's where I got the hoverboard from. Well I saw something similar, and decided to make my own version. I cannot see things in the near future, but only the far future, for lack of better words. I didn't say anything because my parents do not make me who I am. I'm not a hopeless drunk like my mom or roommate who need to be cleaned up every night, and needs to take out their anger on someone less strong. She's abusive even when she isn't high or drunk. Then she practically killed Jason…" She trailed off, running a hand through her hair. "Sorry, off track. I'm not my parents and I do not intend to become like them either. I don't get why my parentage is so important, why it makes me any different. I'm not like my parents, neither are you or any of the League, so if you excuse me, I'm gonna go do stuff that concerns none of you." She was speaking directly to the camera. She turned to Peter "See you later Pete, love ya." She hugged him and walked to the locker room, coming out dressed as Anonymous, knapsack over her shoulder. She walked to her room and rustling was heard, along with a few muffled curses. Then she left through the zeta tubes, throwing a brief second glance over her shoulder. Peter watched her leave from the ceiling, knowing full well that she didn't plan on returning and immediately dropped and ran to the camera room.

END PART 1


	9. Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9:

She was running through the streets asphalt disappearing under her as her world crumbled away. Tears fell down her face as she turned to see a face that mirrored her own, dressed completely in black, with a cowl over her head, which hid the tears that slipped out from under the second girl's mask. Then the first girl simply disappeared. The cowl fell from the second girl's head, revealing a mop of long, brown hair that fell choppily to her shoulders. Wiping away the tears, she summoned up her power once more and called forth the girl she had just banished, finding the other girl completely insane, without her mind. The seconds she had been gone in this world was years in the next.

"Well done, dearie, you are progressing, my young Necromancer."

Necromancer ignored the man and walked over to the girl and laid a hand on the child's temple, forcing some of her own sanity into the child's mind, stabilizing it once more. She withdrew, but left a false memory in the child's mind, in the place of the eternity in the second world, then took the child back to her home. When she returned, she did not speak a word to the man.

"Now, Necromancer, is that a way to treat your father?"

"Rumplestiltskin, I only treat you the way you deserve to be treated. And right now, you do not even deserve my attention. I shall let you know I am only doing this for Peter and Dick. No one else. You have not right to hurt them. You do well to remember our deal."

"Aurelia, you know better than anyone that I keep all of my promises." He said, his sickly voice filling the room, suppressing her at all sides. She stopped in her tracks. "I know. You have no right to call me Aurelia. Stop calling me Necromancer as well. I hate it. I hate what you make me do, I hate having to revive people for you. I hate _you_. Nothing is keeping me here, Daddy, except the loyalty I have to my friends."

"Some loyalty, my dear, they think you're dead. They went to your funeral. They think you killed yourself, that you spiraled out of control, that you finally lost it. Your costume is in a glass case, do I need to remind you?"

"I have not seen it, so I have no reason to believe it. They may think I am dead. I may be dead to them, but they are still alive to me, and that is really all that matters, Rumple. If you excuse me, I am going to bed. Without a bedtime story Rumple, so please don't ask. I have already messed with the time stream enough." Aurelia walked from the room, removing her cloak and cowl, but leaving her mask on, and tightening her arms around herself, trying to push away the cold. Rumple had struck her up a deal. He would kill her friends and everyone she held dear if she did not become his student. So she did. She became Necromancer. She became the single living person who could bring back the dead without aid from someone or something else. There was a catch though, each person either brought back to life had to have just died, and whenever they returned the revived would be completely insane. Some of them Riley couldn't save, and had to line them up to be killed once more.

She entered her room, a single bed pushed up against the center wall, the footboard facing the door, she dumped the cloak and cowl on the spare armchair. It was a truly nice room. It was. Riley wasn't happy though. It wasn't like her place in the Watchtower, which had the long tables where she could sit from night to night, when the guilt became too great. She squatted beside her desk and pulled out her journal, writing what she saw when she reincarnated the child. On the front of the journal, in bold letters read the word NECROMANCER. She had embossed the letters into the leather cover. She sighed and shut the journal on her cramped scrawl. Slumping against the nearest wall she sighed and rubbed her face with a glove-covered hand. Ever since her death had been faked, she had been working for her father, the whole time plotting to bring him down. Her plan was nearly in place. All she needed was the perfect opportunity, and that would not come until the attack on the Justice League of America began. She gazed at the ceiling, thinking of her own funeral, how they buried her beside Jason, her little brother, how they redecorated her bunker for her, a glass case in the corner, a small light shining inside of it, with her Anonymous outfit inside, the cloth cleaned of bloodstains. She had cried along with everyone, she had worn gloves, a wig and contacts, making sure that no one knew her. She masqueraded as an old school friend. Even her drunk schoolmate came, completely sober. Peter and Dick went; they said wonderful things about the young girl, about her strength, her loyalty, and finally about her apparent heart of gold. Cassie spoke, along with Jaime, Bart, and the rest of the Team. Everyone said wonderful things that filled her eyes with tears. She left the funeral last, watching from a distance as a body masqueraded as her own was lowered into the ground. She was sure that Dick's father, Bruce had seen her. He nodded to her before she disappeared into the trees and slipped away to meet her father, transforming her entire image. Her uniform was, for all practical reasons, a long-sleeved gymnastics leotard with a skirt that was cut in thick strips that hung around her legs, to her ankles, still allowing full mobility. When she walked, people saw the scars. Her father said it was intimidating. Daggers where strapped to her thighs, and she wore a cloak and cowl. Her costume was completely black, and completed with a domino mask that had gold filigree edging it. She wore a gold amulet around her neck and a gold anklet that showed just above her simple shoes.

The ringing of a cell phone cut through the air. Standing, she answered it, seeing the number was hidden and wondering who would be calling her. Peter and Dick called her over and over before her "death" and she just listened to the messages over and over whenever she needed to hear their voices.

"Hello?" She asked, uncertain of what to say, or for any matter, what to do.

"Is this Anonymous?" Riley nearly dropped the phone. It was Batman. She carefully began to speak again.

"I'm afraid you have the wrong number sir, have a good day." She immediately hung up the phone, and pulled off her mask and gloves, then ruffled her hair, the ends brushing her shoulders.

In the Batcave, Batman felt a small sense of accomplishment. He had found his spider, the one that he knew wasn't dead since he saw the girl at the funeral, the one that stayed longer than any of the other guests. The one who had been careful, but not careful enough.


	10. Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10:

Riley had finally fallen asleep. She was plagued by nightmares, each one showing something of ruin. She heard the screams of the people she had revived. She bolted up in the bed and pulled off her costume, balling up the fabric and tossing it into the corner, leaving her in her under clothes. She fingered her scars and felt her newest scars, wincing slightly as she applied pressure. This was from her suicide attempt. She had decided to go face the most notorious villain she could. The Joker. He wanted someone to play with. He made ghastly knife wounds all over her body. Then he smiled. She wasn't sure if she wanted to die seeing his face, in addition, he wished to gouge out her eyes, and so she escaped, wounds and all, and then she died. Her father had "saved" her and left a body with a charm over it in her place. That was that. Her death was fake, and she was left with swirling scars all over her body. Despite everything Joker was, he was actually a pretty good artist. He cut her body with expert precision, creating perfect swirls and designs all across her body, but left her face completely unharmed. She remembered and rubbed her face again. She was fifteen. She shouldn't have to remember this.

Her phone rang. It was the same private number.

"Hello?"

"Anonymous. What are you up to? I know it is you, Aurelia Jacobs. You look very different in black, but not different enough." Riley sighed.

"I'm taking care of family business, extremely personal. I actually planned on dying that night, though. Myself living was not part of the plan. Tell Joker hello and that I send my love."

"You faced Joker. Alone. Where you suicidal?"

"Yes actually, not entirely sure why, but it got me here. What do want?"

"An explanation."

"I owe you none. I will contact you if I am in need of assistance, are we understood?" Inwardly, Riley was completely a bundle of nerves, but she had come up tough, come up as if she didn't care anymore. Her heart screamed out for her to ask a question. He grunted his assent, then the question slipped out. "How are Dick and Peter?"

"Fine. Not happy, but fine. Happy birthday."

A tear slipped down her hollow cheek, she fought to keep her voice steady as she replied "Thank you, Batman, I'll see you around."

"Same to you." Then the line went dead and Riley broke down. They were hung up on her. She was just some little girl who didn't know how to act, how to play with others, but still Peter and Dick somehow got through to her. If they died, she would probably behave the same way. She flipped on her TV, wiping away the tears, and brushing her sleeve harshly against her nose.

"In other news, the _heroine_ Anonymous has not returned to New York City…" She flipped the channel, nothing new. She didn't want to hear about how much of a menace she was. "According to the Justice League, the girl Aurelia Jacobs, who was killed by the Joker, is in fact not dead, but the girl that was buried was a man charmed to look like the girl. Jacobs is still unaccounted for and a search is being conducted by the League…"

"No. Nononononononono. This is bad. Really bad. Batman knows where I am. Badbadbad. Bad." She pulled out her phone and immediately called up the number.

"Yes?" Said his gruff voice.

"I would like to make one thing clear, Batman." She said, slowing her words down, more for calming herself than anything else. "You cannot come here. I know you're tracing this, probably recording it too, because you're Batman. You cannot bring anyone here, do not send anyone undercover, do not tell Dick or Peter, keep this completely silent. I'm sure you can do that, Mr. Wayne?" She said, pulling out her trump card and cradling her forehead in a hand, her elbow resting on her knee. There was a sigh on the other end of the phone.

"I cannot make any promises, Aurelia."

"Give me twenty-four hours at most for me to persuade my father. I'll turn on my comm. to let you know when to come. You will not try to find me before then. Please. Leave Peter and Dick completely out of this. They'll get too involved if something actually happens to me. This wasn't my plan at all. I'm sorry for dragging you into this. See you later."

"Bye." The line went dead and Riley stood up, changing into her costume once more, placing her mask over her eyes and her cloak and cowl across her shoulders before walking from the room, passing lackeys, each leaning up against a wall. Readjusting her belt, she walked into her father's room.

"Father."

"Yes, dearie?" He said, looking up from his writing and smiled his sickly-sweet smile at her.

"The League knows I'm not dead. They'll be onto us. Especially with Batman up and running from that little present you gave him."

"Did he not like it? Well, it seems that I might have to give the whole League a gift this time. Shall we begin, my daughter." She smiled beneath her cowl before stoically nodding to the older man, who placed a gentle arm around her shoulders.

"I'm sorry for blowing up at you earlier, it was uncalled for and rude. I apologize."

"Never apologize, it's a sign of weakness." Riley nodded and slipped a hand around her father's waist, fighting a shiver. They walked arm-in-arm to the battle room, where their planning began. An hour later, Riley flipped on her communicator and placed it in her ear and buckled her extra utility belt around her waist, even though she knew that she wouldn't need it anyway. Quickly, she moved through the halls and into her room. She stood in front of her mirror, adjusting her uniform, as she had come to call it, thoughts running through her head a mile a minute, silently preparing herself for what was to come. Pokerfaces and astonished expressions. A sly look from Batman as well as her father. Her phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Anonymous, this is Batman."

"I turned it on, now you have to trust me, I know what I'm doing. If you get to me early, don't stop me, you can tell them if you want too. Where you able to dissuade Peter and Dick?"

"No." Came the simple answer. Covering up the receiver, she let out quite a few colorful words, from several languages. She brought the phone back to her ear. "That puts a few kinks in my plan. Warn them. Tell them they can't interfere. I owe them an apology if I come out of this alive, but while I'm on the phone. I owe you an apology. I'm sorry for being foolish, I'm sorry for disrespecting you, it was rude and has been rude of me, I'm not going to blame on my lack of good human contact, because that would not be right. So, I'm sorry, for all those things as well as dragging you into this. I wouldn't blame you if you didn't forgive me."

"Was that practice for Peter and Dick?" he asked.

"No. That was an apology for Batman and only Batman. I also want to apologize for making you pay for a funeral which didn't work out to well, because I'm kind of alive, instead of dead." There was a lengthy silence that put Riley's teeth on edge. "I forgive you. Thank you, Riley."

"No problem, see you later."

"Bye." She considered his actions for a second. He was probably one of the few people that he offered a thank you to, or even the courtesy of a "Good bye" She slipped her phone into her bottle and strapped several vials of her venom to her hips, so they where beside the daggers on her thighs and the gun at her hip. She walked back down the halls, and then she began to think of each member of the Team. Her thoughts lingered on Bart. Inwardly, she still held some bitterness to accompany his name. He was the only one who could completely hoodwink her. She liked him though, literally, truly liked him. He wasn't too bad, and she kind of found his Impulsiveness endearing, especially since it was his name sake. She walked into the war-room and surveyed the empty table. Pulling out blueprints of the building, she memorized the complicated layout, her eyes raking over the large paper, eyes following each sharp line and turn, and put them away. Then leaving the room, readjusted her cowl and pushing her hair back, away from her face. There was a large boom, accompanied by angered yells. She ran from the war-room and joined the throng of running men to the melee in the largest room of the place. The courtyard, she quickly recalled. The people she was supposed to reincarnate all laid here. Some were fresh graces, others not. The Justice League had come. She saw Spiderman and Nightwing and smiled to herself before disappearing into the shadows. Her father walked up beside her and said. "Begin your part of the plan, my dear." She squatted down on the floor, placing one hand on the cool earth, her palm flat on the ground and fingers splayed out as her eyes closed. The ground began to glow, and all of the fighting stopped and people backed away. The glowing stopped and nothing happened, until a great gust of wind blew through the courtyard. Riley's cowl fell from her face, revealing the mask and long, brown hair. When she looked up, her eyes glowed a pure white, not one achievable from the lenses of a domino mask, only one that magic can achieve.

Many voices came from her mouth as they shouted out a spell so quickly that none could distinguish one word from the next. The young girl rose from the ground and hovered directly above it, turning to face her father, who watched with astonished eyes. She had absorbed the elders of magic into her body. The wind still came through the courtyard, , billowing her cape away from her small frame, as well as the strips of fabric surrounding her legs from her leg itself, revealing the scars. She felt eyes on her as she struggled to keep her own identity among the many that held themselves in her body. She let them take over, obliterating the entire army in a matter seconds, all the while, barely lifting a finger in the process. The League watched in astonishment as the hovering girl flew over to her fleeing father, knocking him to the ground. Sweat was beading on her forehead and sliding down the side of her face like teardrops, dripping off her chin. Her eyes glowed brighter before a great light encased the man and he disappeared, without a single trace. Her eyes began to flicker before she fell to the ground, her knees buckling when she hit the stone. The lights left her eyes and returned to the ground, but not before saying.

"Rumplestiltskin is a shame to the name of magic, he will stand trial to right his wrongs. The Elders have finished their job, and return their host." The many voices where replaced by one, which was clearly feminine, and groaned.

"I will never again choose to be willingly possessed by magical beings. Ever." Shakily, she pushed herself up, using a nearby column for support. She began muttering to herself. "Well, I'm in pain, so I must be alive, if I'm alive, then I'll be seeing Spiderman and Nightwing soon. If I see them soon, then I don't even have to bother trying to get myself killed, they'll do it for me, then have someone reincarnate me so the Team can kill me, then the League, then Batman, because everyone knows he's in a whole 'nother league. Hehe. League." She was cut off from her ramblings by a solid, brutal punch across the jaw, causing her to fly into a column, hitting the stone with a solid _thunk_, before sliding to the ground, a crack in the column were she had landed. She fell to all fours and stood back up, facing a livid, red-masked hero. She leant up against the column, coughing violently, gripping her ribs.

"Yep, I am most definitely dead." She opened her eyes and pulled off her mask, rubbing her eyes violently before replacing it and stoically walking away from the ruined courtyard into the shambles of the building, moving silently down the halls until she couldn't keep up the façade any longer. She tripped and fell face-first on the ground. She lay there, sprawled out in the dust for a few minutes, before finally standing, and limping to her room. She didn't have to pretend that each step didn't hurt anymore. She had to face the truth though. That would be far more painful. She made it to her room and cast off her cloak, bunching it up and hurtling it across the room with surprising speed for some so frail. She slumped onto the bed and buried her face in her hands, trying to stop the raging storm of emotions moving throughout her. To no avail. Choking sobs escaped her mouth, loud, hiccupping sobs accompanied by full on waterworks. Not the pretty kind of crying.

She yanked off her gloves and mask furiously, throwing them as far away from her as possible. She tried to stifle the sobs, subdue them, but nothing could calm her down. Then, she barely heard someone walk in. Looking up, she saw Wonder Woman, and immediately backed away, pulling her knees to her chest and hiding her face behind them, her skirt spread out around her in a small semi-circle, as if she had been placed there. She made herself as small as possible as a warm hand landed on her shaking shoulder. She tensed beneath the touch, but next thing she knew, she was pulled against a chest and hands wrapped around her holding her in an iron grip as she tried to push away. Hands rubbed the tension away gently and Riley buried her face into the older woman's shoulder and wrapped her own arms around the woman, finally giving in.

Once she calmed down, she extracted herself from the woman's arms, and hugged herself tightly. She walked over to her backpack and pulled out the journal stamped with NECROMANCER.

"This is a detailed account of everything. All of my reasons, all questions answered, it's private, but it's everything. Some of the people here are innocent, people that have been forced into this. Their names are listed in the front, along with those I revived. No, I will not revive anyone deceased, as they all return completely insane. Tell Spidey I said hello and thanks for the right hook." With that, she grabbed her cloak, gloves, and mask from the ground and picked up her backpack along with a packed duffel bag and left the room, her limp prominent as she walked through the courtyard, a rather dumbfounded Wonder Woman behind her. She subtly nodded to Cassie, who smiled in return before limping away from it all, occasionally leaning on wreckage.


	11. Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11:

Wonder Woman opened the journal, and tried to read her cramped script, then realized it was all in code, a complete mix-up of written languages, from Egyptian hieroglyphics to loopy Victorian. It alternated from page to page. Though she recognized some of the words, they where all out of order, completely mixed up. Wonder Woman sighed and turned to Batman. "She said this had all the answers, but it's in several different languages and the word order is all wrong." Spiderman began laughing from his position near the two.

"She's been wanting to do that for ages, learned all sorts of languages just for it. Even the unwritten ones. She really didn't want her dad to read that, and from what it looks like, she didn't want anyone to read it, no matter who they are. She's and enigma wrapped up in a puzzle stuffed inside a mystery. Then she's padlocked with a melted key. You cannot figure half of the stuff she does, even if you where the Batman." He said, crossing his arms over his chest, a smirk beneath is mask. Batman had opened the book, and even he seemed a bit surprised.

"She had a lot of time on her hands." Spiderman stated blandly, the smirk disappearing. His head swiveled in the direction she had left in and immediately took off in a run, quickly catching up with the limping girl. She was thrown over his shoulder as he walked right back to the courtyard and handed the scowling girl off to Nightwing, who smirked charmingly at Peter, who mockingly bowed before returning to the Justice League. Cassie helped her inside the Bioship, and told her to sit down and go to sleep. She scowled at the girl before sitting down, making sure the pain was masked from her face, but Cassie saw it in her eyes as she settled back, and fell asleep, her cowl falling back from her face, revealing sharp features, hollow cheeks and her face was pale, and seemed even paler due to the darkness of her uniform. When her eyes closed, the whites of her mask had disappeared to all but slits and the whole sight seemed rather odd for anyone who was looking. Cassie walked back out, nodding to Nightwing, who nodded back. The clearing was quiet, save the quiet conversations among members of the League and the Team. The Team left not soon after, either by Supercycle, Bioship, or flying to the nearest zeta-tube. All of the members riding in the Bioship smiled fondly at the sleeping Necromancer, then took in her appearance critically and frowned, then just let her sleep.

Batman sat in the Batcave, flipping through the journal, analyzing page after page of cramped words and pictograms. He had translated nearly all of it, but the word order baffled him. She had nearly created an entirely new language in the pages. Dick entered the Batcave, completely dressed down, in sweats and with sunglasses on the top of his head. He leant up against the table, surveying the work spread out before him.

"It's like another language, I always knew Riley was smart, but never this smart, it must have taken her hours."

"No. Her handwritings too cramped." Dick watched as Batman cut through the back of the book, where two pages where cleverly pasted together, and pulled out the note. It was the only thing that was in plain, untouched English.

To whom it may concern,

I must assume that if this is being read, I am either dead, fatally injured, or found out by some person or the other. Father, if you happen to be the one reading this, I wish I could tell you something rather inconsiderate, but I'm not going to waste my ink. If this is the League, I wish to tell you that I have made this book, for all practical reasons, unreadable. Everything is scrambled, completely by hand. There is no magic involved, and no magic will affect the words. I also wish you the best of luck. But I must remind you, I built all of this from the bottom on up. It will be very difficult to decipher. I wish you the best, and I apologize to all for the deceit, as well as the pain I caused. I would also like to thank you for the wonderful funeral, I enjoyed myself.

Ever odd,

Aurelia Jacobs, who will always remain Anonymous.

Dick smirked at the paper. What she wrote was just like her. Batman was staring at it for a long time, as if her was running every possibility of word order through his head. Then as if something clicked, he picked up the translations.

"She wrote it from the bottom up. We aren't translating anything wrong. Everything is backwards." Dick grinned and nudged his father before running upstairs.

"I'll get Tim, Barbra and Damian, they'll want a crack at this."

The three had been through the stack of papers and the entire journal, all of them making subtle comments about the others, a lot of them snide comments about Selina Kyle to Bruce, who just put it right back into their faces without even looking up from his papers. They spent the night working on it, Damian and Tim eventually falling asleep in their chairs, followed by Dick and Barbra, leaving Bruce, who finished his own work, before heading up to bed, taking up Damian and Tim, letting Dick and Barbra sleep, their hand intertwined and Barbra's head on his son's shoulder (but not before taking a picture to blackmail them both). The door of the Batcave closed behind him as he placed Damian in his bed, then picked up Tim, who seemed to be smaller than Dick at his age as he laid the child in his own bed, then retired to his own, waving good-night to Alfred, the man who had been a father to him. He went to bed happy that night, and it was only because his family was happy. Bruce had lost count of the sleepless nights he spent worrying about his eldest son, as he went on crime-fighting rampages night after night, staying out later and later, until Bruce confronted him. He had only seen Dick cry on a few occasions. He didn't cry at Riley's funeral, but he cried later, when he had run himself into the ground. Dick was finally able to rest peacefully, and now Bruce was as well. It was a blessing for them all, as none had to worry about the other anymore.


	12. Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12:

In the Watchtower, Riley was in the infirmary, on a stark white bed, in between stark white sheets, with a death-white pallor coloring her face. She hadn't woken up. Her skin was a shade lighter than the infirmary sheets. Her heart rate was steady, her breathing calm. Nothing had changed. She had been this way since the Team had returned. Black Canary forced Peter to go home, practically manhandling him out. She had shooed the Team from the room and left the sleeping girl in peace, hoping the deafening silence would wake the girl who could never stand it. She shut the door behind her and walked to the spare room, laying down and waiting, hoping sleep would come soon enough. It never did. It didn't come for many people in the League that night. Peter had returned, in his civvies and ended up sleeping at her bedside, followed by Wonder Girl, Kid Flash, Blue Beetle, Aqualad, Miss Martian, Superboy, even Wolf. Black Canary walked into the room the next morning to a sleeping girl and a group of super heroes wide awake beside her. They were talking amongst themselves, Wonder Girl, animatedly to Jaime, Peter to Aqualad, Megan to Conner, and Kid Flash, oddly enough, to the sleeping girl. This went on for days on end. It was rather touch and go, sometimes she would respond, other times she would not. Her hand would twitch, eyes flicker beneath their lids, sometimes, she whimpered, moaned cried out. There was absolutely nothing physical wrong with her, just bruises, a few clean fractures, some nerve damage and exhaustion. It was all mental now.

Riley was trapped. No matter where she ran or hid, she always felt as if someone was chasing her, someone was watching her. She wasn't sure who, but she was scared. She needed to wake up. She heard voices, so close, but she couldn't reach them, no matter how hard she ran. She eventually gave up on running and sat down, chanting spells to herself, until she opened her eyes. Her father stood in front of her, eyes dark and menacing in the darkness. She watched him and him her. Nothing happened. And that is what scared her the most. She continued to chant, not knowing what she was chanting, all she knew was that her father's smile was growing by the second before his smile turned into a twisted, sadistic grin. She continued to chant, blocking out the chattering voices until she finally gave up. Then she heard one voice. It sounded oddly familiar and comforting. It was her own.

_flying is difficult_

_isn't it_

_things always seem_

_to pull us back down_

_whether it be gravity_

_whether it be fear_

_you see, fear_

_fear is a tool_

_maybe even the greatest_

_tool in existence_

_it is the one thing_

_that can be exploited_

_without fail_

_the only thing_

_that never fails_

_to weaken an opponent_

_no matter the circumstance_

_but that is known_

_what is not known is why_

_why do we fear_

_nothing is impossible_

_for all practical reasons_

_anything can be done_

_if the mind is set to it_

_even fly_

_but fear_

_fear is an amazing thing_

_it's like a lead weight_

_on the mind_

_the second it begins to_

_stray towards the sky_

_it pulls the mind back down_

_the only question is_

_why does that happen_

_in the first place_

_the answer is simple_

_it is because we let_

_ourselves exist this way_

_prisoners to our own minds_

_prisoners to our own fear_

_we are free from everything_

_except our mind_

_the mind is a strange tool_

_it is wondrous_

_but it is_

_the greatest weapon_

_in history_

_so maybe_

_flying isn't that_

_difficult after all._

The words rang through her ears, and then, she found her voice.

"You are a liar, Father, and you always have been. You give me nothing but words. Nothing but empty promises that make me fearful. Do I show it? No. Do I want to? Heck yes. You bet I do. I cannot say a word against you though, because you are my father, and I thank you for your contribution to my existence, but I cannot live in fear of you. That I cannot do, so I would like to say to you, that I am not afraid of you, I am not afraid of what you can do, and I am not afraid of the consequences of my actions. I know what I have done and I am willing to stand behind it. I have no reason to explain myself to you or anyone else. I would like to tell you good-bye. And good riddance as well, I hope the elders deal with you appropriately father." She nodded before closing her eyes, concentrating on the voices, before opening them once more, the closing them again, bright lights burning her retinas. She groaned and attempted to turn over, but she didn't' have the strength. She squinted as figures blurred in and out of focus. The voices where less far off, but they sounded as if they were yelling through a tunnel. She closed her eyes and reopened them all the way. Someone was gripping her hand. She gripped back. She looked around but everything was fuzzy, moving in and out of focus. She hurt all over, but continued to hold on to the hand gripping her own, before she fell asleep once more, free of nightmares.

Peter pulled out his phone with his free hand and quickly dialed Nightwing's number

"Nightwing."

"'Wing, she woke up, for a short time, albeit, but she's not dead. Yet."

"Should I be happy?"

"Yeah, probably, you sound happy, did you finally kiss Batgirl?" Peter asked, a smirk creeping onto his lips. There was silence on the other end of the phone, bringing a larger smirk to the spider's lips before he hung up, stuffing the phone back into his pocket and watching Riley, her face still pale, but he could see her eyes, bright in her pale face, their dark shade glinting in the fluorescent lights, before disappearing. Dick had joined the group, sunglasses over his face, and ended up sleeping there, soon joined by Batgirl, and Robin, all lulled to sleep by the steady beating of the heart monitor.

Riley opened her eyes and pushed herself up, gazing around the room before sighing and rubbing her face with a pale hand. She extracted her hand from Peter's limp grip and slid from underneath the covers, she saw she wore sweatpants and an overlarge sweatshirt. Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, she stood shakily, only to fall hard onto the floor, her forearms shooting out to catch herself. She pushed herself into a sitting position and pulled her good leg to her chest, resting her chin on the cloth-covered limb. She stretched her hands out before her. They were simply skin and bone, no flesh was left from her father's cruel sessions of torture, the endless labor of reviving and reestablishing a mind and body. She leant her head back and let her hands fall to the floor. She stared at the ceiling for a long time, and ended up tucking her feet beside her, still leaning against the frame of the bed. She watched everyone sleep. Peter seemed happy, Dick seemed happy. Everyone was happy. Just because she had been found and returned. She didn't know she meant that much to them. Soon, someone's phone went off, waking everyone in the room. Riley watched in fascination as everyone blinked sleep from their eyes as they searched for the source. Riley listened for a few more seconds, then realized it was her own. Slowly, she stood and limped to her bag, pulling out her phone.

"Hello?"

"We finished the translations."

"Congratulations." She stated blandly, watching everyone's eyes turn to her as she leant up against the wall, speaking to the dark voice on the line as if it was an old friend. "I knew I shouldn't have put the note in the back, but precautions are precautions."

"Joker knows you're alive."

"That guy is pretty cool, I must admit, he does put out a good joke every once and a while."

"He sent us a tape, of your torture."

"That would be a fun movie night, what do you think?" There was silence on the other end. "Alright, no movie, but send it to me, I don't want anyone watching that. It wasn't one of my more glorious moments. Don't make a copy either, or do anything _you_ would do."

"No promises."

"I have given you none as well, so we're even. Thank you, Batman." The line went dead. Riley tucked away the phone, sitting down against the wall, opening her backpack and acting as if she was looking for something, but in truth, she was remembering.

_Her hands were tied above her head, the blood draining from her hands into her shoulders, which ached in the effort to hold up her body. She had put up a valiant fight, that Joker knew, but he also knew that the child had some fight left in her. He flipped out his blade and smiled to the girl clad in blue, before sinking the knife into her flesh. He was smarter than he was given credit for, he knew how to manipulate the soul and push the buttons just so, until they gave in. He knew that this girl had already given in. That made his work all the more fun as salty tears ran down her face, but her hateful gaze mixed with gratitude followed him and his smile. The smile that he knew would haunt her for ages and ages to come. The smile only displayed by a joker. The Joker. _

She was snapped out of her reverie when someone called her name. Black Canary had walked into the room and crossed her arms over her chest, looking slightly disgruntled, but there was pity in her gaze and Riley flinched away from it. She didn't trust many women. She didn't trust many men. She didn't trust anyone. That's what made her dangerous. Black Canary made everyone leave the room and Peter watched her carefully as he left, his eyes not leaving her as he left the room and went into the hall.

Inside the room, Black Canary helped the younger girl up and into bed. Her eyes were already drooping as she settled back into the sheets. "Thanks." She muttered as she rolled over onto her side, curling in on herself, trying not to remember.

She was asleep not soon after she closed her eyes. Black Canary left the room and walked into the hallway, making sure that everyone cleared out before walking away herself, letting the girl finally be in peace when she woke up.

The next day, Riley's eyes cracked open and she sat up, stretching quickly before standing, snatching up her backpack and walking out of the room, smothering a yawn with a hand,. She walked into the kitchen, and started to go through the cabinets for a box of Cheerios. Pulling a Sharpie from her bag, she wrote her name on the box and sat up on the counter. People began to enter the room, and looked at her for a good few seconds before continuing their walk. Riley had a vacant look in her eyes, as if she wasn't all there. She wasn't. She was still contemplating her attempted suicide. She was still unsure of why she did it. Then it hit her, she didn't want to be what she had become exactly what she had. A pawn in her father's game. A low growl escaped her throat and she jumped from the counter and left the room, a scowl forming on her face. She wasn't angry at anyone but herself as she walked through the halls. She stopped at her room and pondered going in for a little while. Then the door opened as she touched the spider across the door. She walked in and sat down on the bed. The room was exactly the way she had left it. Her eyes lit up when she saw her industrial desk and immediately jumped over the desk and launched herself into the chair, the force of her bony frame not making much of an impact on the chair as she sat in it, a small smile on her face as she began to read over blueprints of every kind. They sat in a stack beside piles of spare parts. Then she set to work, backpack dropped on the floor beside her. As she worked, her door opened. She didn't look up.

"Riley, I wanted to talk to you." It was Black Canary.

"What about?" Riley answered, still completely stationary, only her hands moving as they darted in and out of the machinery.

"Your reasons."

"Have you read the book?" She asked, her voice even, hollow.

"No. I prefer verbal explanations."

"Alright. There is no good explanation, no good reason to my attempted suicide by homicide, probably never will be. I didn't want to be a pawn in a game, a player in some twisted scheme. Naturally, it didn't work, but it ended up alright in the end. That's all that really matters, right?" She asked, spinning around and wiping off her hands, the single light in the room casting odd shadows on her gaunt face, making the fifteen year old look beyond her years, defying the almost childish statement that left her lips.

Black Canary didn't know what to think. This girl didn't trust her, and she was, without a doubt another person than the one that they thought was dead less than a year ago. This was only a shell of the girl. The light in her eyes was dim and her face pale. Riley spun back around in her chair and continued to work, signaling the end of the conversation. Black Canary stood and left the room, shaking her head to Wonder Woman, who stood outside with her arms crossed, waiting for answers. This girl meant a lot to Diana's daughter (in all but blood), to her student, and she wanted a reason for all of the pain that she caused Cassie.

Wonder Woman walked into the room, her heels clicking on the floor. Spinning the chair around, Riley watched her and her stance, before sinking back into the chair, faking relaxation.

"You searching for a reason as well, a reason for all the pain I caused Cassie and everyone else?" She didn't wait for an answer. "Welcome to the club, Ms. Prince, it's a large one. I have no proper explanation for you, I thought it was the right thing to do, and I did it. I didn't think it would affect anyone, I didn't think I mattered that much to anyone, save Spidey. Frankly, I didn't care at the time, and please don't chew me out, I've done nothing but for nearly a year. If you think I don't regret it, then you are lying to yourself. I only joke about it to make it hurt less. I apologize to those I've hurt, and I don't want to hurt anyone else. My life being saved was not in the plan. I wanted to get away from the Joker and live my final moments alone, but my father was watching me, and he charmed a boy he killed to look like me." Riley's eyes were vacant once more as she spun back to her work, becoming wrist-deep in machinery, a ghost of a smile on her face.

She didn't sleep that night. Or the next. She walked into the kitchen two days later, and sunk onto a barstool, yawning. Black circles were beneath her tired eyes. She sat on the stool for a while, staring out at the rest of the room, which bustled with energy. She picked up her box of Cheerios and began eating them, one by one, her eyes traveling to empty air, and staying there. For a mere second her eyes flickered with light before the usual vacancy returned.

She was thinking about Jason. Abruptly, she stood up and ran out of the room. Everyone turned to see a box of Cheerios. They returned to their work, reading Riley's pages.

"Recognized: Anonymous." The computer called out, before the zeta tube revved up. Cassie ran into the main room in time to see Riley's slight frame disappear.

Riley wanted to be alone. She knew at Mt. Justice there were cameras on her, all the time, and she couldn't bear it. She walked through New York, breathing in the thick air with a smile on her face.

"It's good to be home." She walked through the streets, limping on her bad leg. She walked through the streets and ended at a cemetery. Stepping through the gates, she hiked her bag up higher on her shoulder before walking on the grass, stepping from grave to grave before stopping at her brother's marker. Falling to her knees in front of it, she noticed that her mother lay beside the son she wished she could have loved. There was a plot beside her brother's that read out her name. She sat in front of her brother's grave, stunned. Then the tears began to fall. Covering her mouth, she kept them as quiet as possible as she sat back on her heels. Furiously wiping the tears away she laid both of her hands on her brother's grave, overcome by the urge to bring him back to life. Then she heard a soft voice resounded in her ears.

"Don't do it, Riley, you're better than that."

"He's my brother though. He's the one I couldn't save." Her voice broke as tears continued to fall down her cheeks. "I could save everyone else, except him. I should have been there sooner, should have looked beyond the mask. All my fault, it all is. This situation, the deaths. The grief. All my fault." The last three words echoed through her head like a mantra as she slowly removed her hands from the hard-packed ground and wrapped her arms around herself tightly. A had rested on her shoulder.

"Hey, don't be like that. It can't be your fault. You just think it is. You see, Riley, it's all in your head, the self-blaming. If there was anything else you could have done, you would have done it, everyone knows that, and no one blames you. Please, just try to smile. You have a pretty one." The edge of Riley's mouth twitched upwards as she faced the boy barely a year her senior.

"Fine, Bart. You owe me though."

Bart look thoroughly confused and jogged (at a human pace) after Riley, who had begun to walk off, thumbs looped in her backpack straps.

"Why!?"

A small smile crept onto Riley's face. "Because you have haunted me every day for the past years, and every time, you would do this." She stepped up to the speedster and kissed him, before immediately turning away, her face turning a bright red. Bart grinned foolishly before gripping her upper arm and pulling her close to him. He kissed her, wrapping his arms around her tightly.

"Now we're even." Riley smiled and wrapped her arms around him, one side of her mouth up in a smile. Riley's comm. sparked to life in her ear.

"Hey Riles, c'mon up to the Watchtower."


	13. Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13:

Riley turned away from Bart and pressed her ear, listening to her best friend's voice come through before asking,

"Which Watchtower, the one I've been in, or the one I haven't?"

"You've been in both actually, but the Team just revisited the old one to make sure you would freak out." Peter said, his smirk heard by Riley who began walking towards the street, turning back quickly to see if Bart was following. He sped up to her and intertwined their fingers. They hadn't spoken in a long time, but they finally got the courage to stand up for their feelings. Peter smiled as he watched the two from a traffic camera.

"Eh, I freaked out anyway, so new Watchtower?"

"Yeah, and hurry it up, lovesack!"

"That's rich, coming from you." Riley retorted, not missing a beat.

"Dude! That's not me, that's Dick, and in case you've forgotten, I have a girlfriend!" Riley smiled and took her hand from her ear, and walked with Bart to the nearest zeta-tube. The speedster was making lame jokes the whole way there, until Riley acquired a grave expression and spoke in an equally grave voice.

"You do know that those who make lame jokes come back even more insane than those who don't." The speedster was speechless and turned to her his jaw dropping. She let him for a few seconds before busting out laughing. Bart grinned largely and twirled her around. He'd never heard her laugh before. It was a beautiful sound, one that bounced off the walls and filled hearts. It wasn't a girly laugh, one like small bells ringing, but it was one no one would suspect of her. It was sudden, loud, like the sound of dropping glass. Bart loved it. Riley wriggled out of his arms with expertise before stepping into the zeta-tube, pressing in the coordinates of the Watchtower. Bart joined her, and Riley closed her eyes against the bright light, gripping the straps of her bag. She opened her eyes once the light vanished and she stepped off the platform, walking down the stairs and stopping in front of Spiderman. Casually, she ran a hand through her hair and pulled it back into a ponytail.

Without warning, Spiderman grabbed her and pulled her into a tight hug, glad that his mask hid the few tears that fell down his face. Riley's eyes widened and she stiffened, before relaxing in her brother's arms. He pulled back, hands on her shoulders.

"Riles, don't ever do that again." Riley smiled at him, one side of her mouth quirking up.

"Why didn't you tell me that you finally got a girl!" She said, punching him in the chest lightly.

"Never came up." Peter said, shrugging indifferently. Riley scowled at him.

"We are catching up as Riley and Peter later, understood?" Spiderman nodded. "Why did you bring me here then?"

"A physical." Riley scowled and shook her head furiously at Peter's words. She was silent for a long time, as if she was trying to get something under control. The temperature in the room dropped a good few degrees. Finally she spoke.

"Not gonna happen." She spun on her heel and tried to leave. Bart grabbed her arm gently.

"Riley." He spun her around to face him, placing a hand on each shoulder. He noticed that she was painfully thin. Thinner than other this age had been in the future. "You need to, it's the only way that everything will go back to normal. People will stop bugging you about it, and you won't have to worry about hiding anymore." She shook her head frantically. Bart realized that it wasn't because she didn't want to, she was afraid to "Look, I had to get a physical too, and you know what? It sucked. It truly did. I'm not gonna lie. At the end of the day, I'll be here, and so will you. The apocalypse isn't going to come and end us all if you have a physical." Riley smiled a bit at his words and nodded.

"Crash!" Riley gave him an odd look and allowed herself to be led to the infirmary of the Watchtower, Bart making sure to talk constantly, telling her all sorts of things, about how the Team had moved to the real Watchtower. Then they reached the infirmary. Riley stared fiercely at the door for a few seconds before stepping in, stealing a glance back at Bart before shutting the door behind her. Bart sighed, knowing she wasn't going to like what was waiting behind the doors.

When Riley shut the door behind her, pulling on the sleeves of the sweatshirt she woke up in. She never had the presence of mind to change. Black Canary was there, along with an older woman, whose hair was almost to her shoulders and tucked neatly behind her ears

"Hello Riley, I'm Leslie Thompkins, and I will perform you examination today, but first I would like you to fill out this form for me." Riley sat down in a chair and took the proffered pen and clipboard, beginning to read through the words, scribbling in answers and writing things down. As she wrote, the constant scratch of the pen on paper suddenly stopped. Slowly, it started back up again until it was signed at the bottom, her hand shaking slightly as she signed her name in messy handwriting:

Aurelia Harley Jacobs. Harley was her grandmother's maiden name. Her mom took a liking to it, and made it her middle name. She set down the pen and handed both to Dr. Thompkins, whom she had been told to call Leslie. Riley folded her hands in her lap, her eyes darting around the room, as the pages were read over and placed to the side.

"There aren't any security cameras, or any bugs, if that is what you are wondering." Black Canary said gently, trying to comfort the girl who had waves of nervous energy emanating off her thin frame. Riley opened her mouth as if to say something, but quickly shut it and nodded curtly, not making eye contact and staring at a fixed point on the floor. Leslie finished reading the papers and placed them aside. She held out her hand to Riley, saying gently

"We need to take all of you measurements." Riley followed uncomfortably, never saying a word, nodding or shaking her head to all answers. After an unbearably long hour, they finished the physical part. Then Leslie asked her a question.

"You said on your paper that you have had sexual intercourse, when?" Riley's face paled, which Dinah found odd, usually girls turned bright red, not deathly pale.

"When Peter finally believed I was dead." She said muttering at a barely audible voice. "It's in the book."

Leslie turned to Dinah, who answered "She wrote an account of what happened to her while she was presumed dead, once we find the information, we will immediately forward it to you." Leslie nodded at the sonic screamer's proposition.

"That will be fine, you can go, Riley. It was a pleasure meeting you." Riley nodded quickly and left the room, fidgeting with the sweatshirt once more. She had a dazed look in her eyes, as if she was shell-shocked. Bart was sitting in the hallway, leg bouncing, when Riley stepped out. She walked right past him, still fidgeting. He watched her walk by, then stop suddenly and curse quietly. Bart nearly winced at her choice of vocabulary, but it stopped as abruptly as it started. She turned on her heel and began to pace back and forth, wringing her hands and pulling her sleeves down alternately. Bart watched her in mild fascination and horror as the pacing continued, and her muttering even more frantic. He decided to step in, before it turned into a full-blown panic attack.

"Riley!" He said, walking calmly (ish) in front of her. Riley's head snapped up and her muttering and fidgeting immediately stopped. She watched him for a few seconds, then sighed.

"It's nothing you should worry about."

"You were practically having a panic attack. I think I should worry!" Bart said, keeping his tone even.

"Worry about it later. You'll probably hear about it soon enough. Patience is a virtue."

"Idiocy isn't." Bart stated at Riley's easy dismissal of the topic. She scowled at him.

"I was raped, by my own father and his gaggle of goons, and I really don't want to tell the world, because it is slightly embarrassing that I couldn't fight back." She spun on her heel and walked out of the hallway, raking a hand across her face. She walked to the zeta-tubes and stepped into one, stepping back out in New York, walking through the streets, her pack on her back and stopping at the junkyard. It had remained untouched. Riley sprinted inside and slid into the bunker. She looked around. They had made it a shrine to her. They set it up as if she had herself. The cot was unmade, her corkboard on the wall, papers spread out across the desk below it. Her uniform was in the corner, light emanated from the glass case, illuminating the dark blue uniform. She spun on her heel, coming face to face with Nightwing, dark glasses over his eyes. The smaller vigilante backed away quickly, putting distance between the two before saying,

"Hello." Nightwing nodded to her and grabbed a chair, sitting in the same fashion as he did when he spoke to her half-mentor, half-agnostic-partner. She sat in her desk chair, dropping her bag beside her, the canvas wrinkling as it hit the floor.

"Hello Riley." The twenty-year-old in return to the fifteen (almost sixteen)-year-old's greeting. The latter leant back in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest, almost protectively, before speaking: "What brings you to my humble bunker?"

"I visit sometimes. Today's your 'deathday' in the terms of magical folk"

Riley snorted and stood, walking to her closet and looking until she found what she was looking for, a black dress. "I'll dress for the occasion, then." She disappeared into the bathroom, which was added on and exited in the dress, which was, amazingly, too big. She had put a belt at the waist to provide the illusion that it fit. When she stepped out, she had pulled her hair into a high ponytail, letting the light hit her face properly. Someone had entered the bunker, he was noisy and cursed rather loudly. Riley's face split into a grin when she saw the man the loud voice belonged to.

"Jace!" She said, and hugged the man underneath the red helmet, who reluctantly patted her back. Nightwing looked rather surprised to see his younger "brother" uncomfortably hugging a scrawny fifteen-year-old. "You never wrote." The reprimanded the girl, pulling away and crossing her arms over her chest. "You and Kara never wrote. You weren't doing _it_, were you?" She raised her eyebrows at the older boy

Jason had removed his helmet and scowled at her, sending her a look, though his cheeks had begun to turn red. Riley smiled smugly, saying "I knew it. Two troubled souls."

She got a faraway look in her eyes before shuddering slightly and walking to her backpack and quickly scribbling something down. Two brothers shared a look. No sooner had they done this, did Riley return to her previous position, though putting more space between herself and the two men.

"So, what brings you here, Jace?" She never called him Jason or Jay. That was her brother's name, no one else's (at the very least, in her book). The older boy shrugged.

"Just checking up on you, thought you were dead once you helped all of us escape."

Riley laughed, a humorless laugh. "So did I. I appreciate the concern, both of you, but I just want to be alone for a little while. I just found out my Mom was dead, and even though 90% of the time, she was drunk, high, or both. When she wasn't, she was the best Mom in the world. She had a few issues, but I love her. No, I'm not going to bring her back. It'll be useless, I don't have much sanity left to share. You know where the door is, please use it." She turned her back to both boys and sat at her desk, beginning to work on the computer, pulling out her journal, her fingers moving at an amazingly fast rate for someone who hadn't been around the computer in a long time.

As Jason Todd left the bunker, he remembered the first time he met Riley.

_"Jason was my brother's name. He's dead." A voice said, interrupting the blackness, the calm. He looked up and around, trying to find the source of the voice. His eyes landed on it. A girl with tousled brown hair and a lopsided grin on her face, she wore a dress that fell to her calves, and was a dark blue, matching the color of her eyes. A red hand-mark was livid on her face. Still she smiled. _

_"Who are you?" the words hesitantly left the boy's throat as he tried to identify where he was "Are you an angel or something" He asked, and much to his surprise, the girl let out a laugh, abrupt, like the dropping of dishes, but higher, maybe the ringing of bells. _

_"I'm going to call you Jace. No, I'm not an angel or something, Jace. There is someone wants you alive, though that is a rarity in your line of work." She stated, her smile earning a note of easy humor. "So, you were revived in a place called Lazarus Pit by a woman named Talia Al Ghul for a man whom she refers to as her…" her eyes shifted as she hid a smile "… 'Beloved'. You are lucky that I am in the hands of the Assassin's League for a while, or else the outcome would be worse. I have little sanity to give you, but what I have, it's all yours" She held up her hands in a surrendering gesture. "Remember something for me. You don't have to remember me, or anything else, but remember a woman for me. Her name is Kara Zor-El, she's Kryptonian, and a whole lot like you. Find her, and you might be happy. May your tortured mind be laid to rest, Jason Peter Todd, for mine never will. Let me also tell you this. If I give you some of my sanity, we will share something, a bond of sorts. I will know things about you, though completely unintentional. I will let you decide to be sane or a mindless beast. You have been warned, and been given a choice." _

_Her serious face once again morphed into one with a smile as a small hand brushed his face, healing the cuts. For the first time, he looked at himself. He was in a tuxedo, covered in cuts and bruises, and his bones were broken. He turned his murky, dead eyes onto similar ones. _

_"Let me live. I am forever indebted to you."_

_"No, you aren't." She said, tears sparkling in her eyes. "I am to you, Jace." She shook her head before stating once again, more firmly "I am to you." The girl said, then introduced herself, beaming at the older boy. "My name is Aurelia, you may call me Riley. You will rise, my brother." With those words, she grabbed the boy's hands and closed her eyes. Then, Jason opened his own eyes, and sucked air into his lungs, ears haunted by what he had just heard. He was alive, and he also had a girl to find. _

Jason shut the bunker door and turned to Nightwing.

"What the - happened to that kid. Last time I saw her I was dead, now she's the one who is nearly dead."

"We don't know. Batman will not let us read her notebook. She won't tell us anything either. How do you know her?"

"She worked for the League of Assassins for a while, most likely strengthening the Lazarus Pit. She made me sane. Now I can always find her, like a homing device of sorts. She said we would have a bond, and she didn't lie. She's different. She seemed really happy. Now it's the opposite end of the spectrum, as if whatever she says is forced."

Nightwing nodded. "I don't know what her father did to her, but he's going to have nearly the whole Justice League after him. Riley grew on all of us. She was odd, but she seemed to fill a room without meaning to, as if she didn't know what she was capable of. She still does, but there's a difference. She knows that she can and tries to make herself smaller. So her Dad hired her out?"

Jason nodded. Dick (he had removed his glasses) ran a hand through his hair. Riley was never going to be the same person. He tried to be positive though, for the sake of his best friend by extension, Peter Parker, also known as Spiderman.


	14. Chapter 14

CHAPTER 14:

Riley needed to think, no matter how self-destructive the action was. Her mother was dead. She searched up the records on her mother and found her will. She read it. Everything her mother owned was left to her, the missing child. Riley took a deep breath and opened her email, going through all of her messages, until she found one without a sender. She opened it, and pressed play.

_The camera panned across her face, from her swelling bruises to the sweat that darkened her mask. Her cowl had been cut off, dry blood was on her face. A rope hung from a beam high out of view from the camera, holding the girl up. She was stretched out as she tried to reach the floor and stand flat. Her booted toes skimmed the floor. A groan could be heard as the camera zoomed out and focused on the girl. She raised her head and smiled at the camera winningly, blood between her teeth and on her lips. She spit on the ground and continued to smile, before speaking in a scratched voice "I'm supposed to say not to avert your eyes. I suggest you do though; no one wants to see me like this…_

Riley leant back in her chair, biting her knuckle, watching her lowest moments play out in front of her eyes, seeing the hours that were blurs become a full memory.

_"…I know I wouldn't want to. I would like to explain why I'm here…" The girl on the screen coughed violently as a sadistic cackle resounded off the walls "I'm through with life. I don't know what to live for anymore. I think the world will be a finer place without one more anonymous person." She gazed at the floor, the sound of sobbing beginning to fill the room, the sobs hiccupping slightly as she attempted to chuckle at her own pun. The sobs were accompanied by another laugh. "I love all of you, and I wish to apologize for any of the pain that I may cause you, and if my death inconveniences anyone, I'm sorry. This is my own choice to make, I have no reason to keep on breathing, and maybe I wanted to go out with a bang. I didn't want to do it myself either. This is when my good friend, Joker comes in. I'm sure everyone except the Batclan are screaming in terror right now, or yelling angrily at the screen at either me or the pale lunatic." She smiled at the camera, one side of her mouth moving up higher than the other "He's going to kill me. I will most likely escape and die looking at the stars." The bloody smile grew, and then disappeared as the frail girl continued to cough. "I've considered this for a long time, and I don't want to be seen as a martyr. This is not a-a martyr. This is a sui-suicide by homicide. I'm killing myself by having someone kill me. This is not death for anything, anything noble, no matter how much I wish it were so. This is death for a selfish end. I can't tough it out any longer. I-I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry…" The sobs began to drown out her words as Joker stepped into the camera's line of sight, wielding a knife that glinted in the sunlight…_

Both blonde women turned from the screen, not able to hold it together long enough to watch the young girl on the screen, who was sobbing violently as the knife began seep away her life's blood.

_Her sobs continued, no matter how many times she tried to stop them. She was muttering apologies, to everyone she knew. Joker's laughs obscured most of the sobbing, but as the tape neared its end, she had composed herself and she watched the camera's lens in stony silence, her face twisted, but her demeanor was calm. The final slice Joker made was across her chest, slicing open the suit. She sucked in a breath and let out a shaky one, and as she drew in more breaths, they each grew shakier. Joker dropped her bonds, then left the room, his fun over. The camera remained on the spot where she once hung. She began to crawl, her muttering continuing, but soft enough for none to hear. She made it to the door and a bloody hand reached up and pulled the door open. Then her muttering faded. The camera continued to record, then a shrill scream could be heard in the distance. The Riley they knew was dead. _

Bruce Wayne watched his screen as it cut to static. He was shocked by what he had seen. This was not the girl who had jumped from the top of the junkyard that night and told Spiderman off, making the intrepid hero seem almost afraid. This was not the girl, who grinned lopsidedly up at anyone who contradicted her, just to show them she wasn't intimidated. He only knew what he had observed, but the spirit that she once had disappeared. It was simply another reason to ensure that Joker never got out of Arkham Asylum.

Riley stared at the screen and carefully unlocked her jaw, examining her hand, which bled from the force with which she clamped her teeth down on it. She carefully sucked the blood off and closed the window, moving from her computer, setting up her bunker once more, distributing her many journals across the room, the dress large on her thin frame. At noon she left the bunker and walked down the streets of New York, stopping to get food from a vendor before walking back to the underground haven, chewing thoughtfully on the hot dog she bought. She hadn't had one of them in a long time. She walked down the streets, taking the long way back to the junkyard. She climbed over the cars nimbly, though the movements lacked the previous speed with which she used to. When she landed on the ground she leant over, hands on her knees. She straightened and entered the bunker. Her head was clear. She needed to let them all go, and move on. Everything, from the lives she ended, the lives she harmed, her own life that was destroyed. She needed to rebuild, and she knew how hard it was going to be. Entering the bathroom, she stripped off her dress and stood under the water, scrubbing herself clean, from the roots of her hair, to the soles of her feet. She would rebuild, and she would try to live. Live a life that she dreamt about, building herself a life from what she had and what she knew. As she removed the towel from her hair, she grabbed a screwdriver off the table and tossed it in her hand, up and down, over and over, the handle somersaulting over the tip and catching it with an ease that came with practice. She might not have been able to restart her life, but she could look upon it afresh. Riley rolled up her sleeves, sitting in her chair and she began to work. She began to rebuild. As she worked, a person entered the bunker and wrapped their arms around her. She jumped and the screwdriver was immediately turned in preparation to attack her assailant. The said assailant kissed her cheek, laughing. Riley scowled mockingly before looking up at the boy whose goggles hung around his neck and a silly smile plastered on his face. Rolling her eyes, she pulled him up a chair and they worked. As she worked, she thought about something she hadn't considered for years. The thought that heroes needed heroes. She turned to the boy with green eyes beside her, who laughed when she did and pulled silly faces in an attempt to distract her. Maybe he was her hero.

FIN.

**Author's Note: Alrighty then...IT'S THE END. Of part one...mwahahahahaha...Anywho, thank you to ALL who have read reviewed et cetera, et cetera. You people are AMAZING. Honestly. I love you. Cookies for all! (::) Well, they're virtual, but I'm sure they taste the same...ish. **

**Now let us speak of sequels. I know some writers often ask their readers if they will read a sequel if they put it up, but I've decided that either way, I will still put one up, at the very least for my own benefit. By benefit I mean that it will make me feel happy inside. I am writing it now, and instead of doing what I am with Project Amazon (check it out please!), which is updating whenever I finish a chapter, which is highly erratic and far too much responsibility, I'm going to finish it before posting it. I want to thank all of you for your support, and I would love it if you reviewed, stating you opinions on the prospect of a sequel, which will be YJ+Avengers :), so yeah...**

**Peace, love, rock and roll. God bless all of my lovely readers and please review!**


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